Nigeria Archives - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Mark Chona

by evanamusoke | Mar 22, 2016 | Angola, Apartheid, CHOGM, Decolonisation, Democracy, Diplomacy, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Race, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

NOTE: The respondent stipulates that, before 2026, researchers should seek permission from him before citing this interview in their work. Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Chona, Mark, 1935-. Educated at University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now...

Interview with the Rt Hon Jim Bolger

by chrismoffat | Aug 10, 2015 | Apartheid, Australia, CHOGM, Climate Change, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Good Governance, New Zealand, Nigeria, Queen, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Small States, South Africa, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Bolger, James Brendan ‘Jim’. 1935- . Born in Opunake, New Zealand. Elected to the Parliament of New Zealand as MP for King Country in 1972. Minister of Fisheries and Associate Minister of Agriculture, 1977-78. Minister of...

Interview with David McDowell

by chrismoffat | Jul 31, 2015 | Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Diplomacy, Environment, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, Reflections, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Singapore, Small States, South Africa, Sport, Technical Assistance, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (24 June 2014); Part Two (2 July 2014); Appendix One (on Nelson Mandela); Appendix Two (on Idi Amin). Biography: McDowell, David Keith. 1937- . Born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Educated at Victoria University of...

Interview with Carl Dundas

by chrismoffat | Jul 21, 2015 | Apartheid, Barbados, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Elections, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Technical Assistance, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Dundas, Carl. Educated in London and called to the bar at Gray’s Inn. Appointed Legal Counsel and Director of Legal Division of the Caribbean Community, 1973. Technical Legal Advisor to Joint Selection Committee on...

Interview with Moses Anafu

by chrismoffat | Jul 16, 2015 | Apartheid, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Cold War, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Diplomacy, Elections, Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (17 June 2014); Part Two (13 July 2014); Part Three (19 November 2014). Appendices: One – Interview Inserts (6 May 2015); Two – Secretariat Analysis of 1979 Internal Settlement in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia; Three –...

Interview with Kamal Hossain

by chrismoffat | Jul 13, 2015 | Bangladesh, Cameroon, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Human Rights, India, Nigeria, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Pakistan, South Africa, Technical Assistance, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Hossain, Dr Kamal. 1937- . Educated at the University of Notre Dame (AB, 1955) and the University of Oxford (BA, 1957; BCL, 1958; DPhil, International Law, 1964). Member of Parliament, Bangladesh, 1972-75. Chairman of the...

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Definitioner

Yahya Khan

Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (1917-1980) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971. Khan came to power as head of a military government - he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1966 - following the resignation of Ayub Khan. He was forced out of power following the Bangladesh War of Independence and defeat in the war with India in 1971.

Richard Bourne

Richard Bourne (b.1940) is a British journalist, writer and human rights advocate who has acted as Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Institute (1983-89), Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (1990-92) and Head of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (1999-2005). He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Secretary of the Ramphal Institute, and was a correspondent for The Guardian and deputy editor of the London Evening Standard.

Paul Biya

Paul Biya (b.1933) is a Cameroonian political figure who served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982 and subsequently as President of Cameroon since 1982. Biya oversaw the introduction of multiparty politics into Cameroon in the 1990s, winning presidential elections in 1992, 1997, 2004 and 2011. The legitimacy of these elections has often been contested by opposition politicians in the country.

Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz (b.1943) is an American economist and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001). He was Chair of the President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors (1995-97) and Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist of the World Bank (1997-2000). In 2000, he founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) at the Columbia University, where he is University Professor.

Canaan Banana

Canaan Sodindo Banana (1936-2003) was a Zimbabwean political figure and Methodist minister who served as President of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987. Banana was also a diplomat for the Organisation of African Unity and headed the Department of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (b.1954) is a Nigerian economist and political figure who has served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance (2003-06, and 2011- ) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006). Okonjo-Iweala had previously worked in the World Bank Group as Vice-President and Corporate Secretary.

Transparency International

Transparency International is a non-government organisation based in Berlin, Germany, which monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It was founded in 1993 and produces an extensive annual ‘Global Corruption Barometer’ and ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’.

Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole ‘Wole’ Soyinka (b.1934) is a Nigerian poet, playwright and novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Soyinka has been an active political critic in Nigeria and was imprisoned in 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War. During the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993-98), Soyinka was forced to live in exile.

Jinnah (Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) was a lawyer and politician who led the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. He was the first Governor-General of Pakistan (1947-48) and is referred to as Quaid-i-Azam, the Great Leader.

Hallstein Doctrine

The Hallstein Doctrine was a foreign policy approach in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) elaborated by the German diplomat Walter Hallstein in the 1950s. The Doctrine established that the Federal Republic would not initiate or maintain diplomatic relations with any state that recognised the German Democratic Republic of East Germany.

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury (1921-1987) was a Bengali jurist and politician who served as second President of Bangladesh from 1972 to 1973. He had previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University and was later a member of the UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, as well as Chairman of the UN Human Rights Commission.

Iain Sutherland

Sir Iain Sutherland (1925-86) was a British diplomat who served as Ambassador to Greece (1978-82) and to the Soviet Union (1982-85). After postings in Belgrade, Havana and Washington in the 1950s and 60s, Sutherland was made Consul-general in Jakarta in 1967 and was head of the South Asia Department in the UK Foreign Office from 1969 to 1974.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975) was a Bengali politician and nationalist leader who served as the first President of an independent Bangladesh from 1971 to 1972. He was a key protagonist in the build up to the Bangladesh Liberation War, during which he was imprisoned in West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujib was later Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1972-75) and then President again before his assassination by junior army officers in the August 1975 coup d’état.

Sheikh Mujib (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman)

Gerry Helleiner

Professor Gerry Helleiner is a Canadian economist and political advisor associated with the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. From 1991 to 1999, he was Research Director of the Group of 24 caucus at the IMF and World Bank, and has chaired the Boards of the North South Institute in Ottawa and the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) in Washington. He has taught in Canada, Nigeria, Tanzania, the United States, and the UK.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an international, non-governmental organisation established in 1987 to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration in the Commonwealth of Nations. It provides thematic human rights reports to every Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In 1993, its headquarters moved from London to New Delhi, India.

Karen Brewer

Dr Karen Brewer is a British lawyer who has served as Secretary General of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) since 1998. She was involved in the drafting of the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles and has led the CMJA in advocating for judicial independence across the Commonwealth. Brewer previously worked for the Law Society of England and Wales where she was involved in the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (1987-98).

Five Eyes alliance

The ‘Five Eyes’ alliance refers to an intelligence grouping established in 1941 by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement on cooperation in signals intelligence. It includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Commonwealth Lawyers Association

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) was established in 1986 in Jamaica, emerging from the Commonwealth Legal Bureau (established in 1968) and linked to the Commonwealth & Empire Law Conferences first organised in London in 1955. The CLA aims to facilitate exchange between legal professionals, academics and students across the Commonwealth on issues of legal education, professional ethics and approaches to the rule of law.

Tom Ikimi (Tommy Ikimi)

Chief Tom Ikimi (b.1941) was Foreign Minister for Nigeria between 1995 and 1998, serving in the cabinet of General Sani Abacha.

Bongo

Omar Bongo Ondimba (1935-2009) was President of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. Bongo led the single-party state as head of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 1990, when he bowed to public and international pressure to introduce multi-party politics in the early 1990s. He was, however, re-elected as President in the 1993, 1998 and 2005 elections.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam (1916-2014) was the 21^st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975.

Neville Linton

Neville Linton, born in Guyana, is a Political Affairs consultant with an extensive background as an international civil servant, including a period of work with the Political Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. At the Secretariat, he was involved in the Diplomatic Training Programme and initiatives around the Security Problems of Small States. Linton has also been associated with Transparency International as a Senior Adviser.

Judith Hart

Judith Hart, Baroness Hart of South Lanark (1924-1991). British politician. A member of the Labour Party, she was Minister of Overseas Development, 1969-70, 1974-75 and 1977-79.

Vince Cable

Vince Cable (b. 1943). British politician and member of the Liberal Democrat party. He was economic advisor to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in the 1970s and 80s.

World Bank

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. An international institution, founded in 1944, that funds development projects

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson (1916-1995). British politician and Prime Minister (1964-1970, 1974-1976).

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Arnold Smith

Arnold Smith (1915 –1994). Canadian diplomat, the first Commonwealth Secretary-General (1965–1975).

Hugh Segal

Hugh Segal (b. 1950). Canadian politician and a member of the 2010 Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group.

Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995). Nigerian writer and political and environmental activist. An outspoken critic of the regime of General Sani Abacha, and Royal Dutch Shell’s environmental pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Saro Wiwa was executed on 10 November 1995. Eight other MOSOP activists were hanged.

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Partition

The division of the territory of British-controlled India to form the self-governing states of India and Pakistan in 1947, which was accompanied by large scale migration and communal violence.

Washington Okumu

Professor Washington Jalang’o Okumu (b.1936) is a Kenyan economist who played a role in the Henry Kissinger and Lord Carrington-led negotiating team during the 1994 South African elections. He is celebrated for his intervention in the South African constitutional crisis. From 1971 to 1987, Okumu worked for the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and was ambassador-at-large for Kenya’s Forum for the Restoration of Democracy political party.

Ogoni people

Ethnic group of southwest Nigeria.

General Obasanjo (Olusegun Obasanjo)

Olusegun Obasanjo (b. 1937). Nigerian Head of Federal Military Government (1976-1979) and President (1999-2007). He was Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa (1985-1986).

Non-aligned movement

An international organisation of countries that are not aligned with any manjor world power, founded in 1961.

Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru)

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was an Indian politician and prominent leader in the Indian National Congress-led movement for independence from colonial rule. He served as India's first Prime Minister from 1947 to his death in 1964. Nehru was also a key figure in the Non-Aligned Movement, present at its founding in Belgrade in 1961.

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein (1937-2006). President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003.

Alec Douglas-Home

Alec Douglas-Home (1903-1995). British politician, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1955-1960), Prime Minister (1963-1964), and Foreign Secretary (1970-1974).

Edward Heath

Edward Heath (1916 –2005). British politician and Prime Minister (1970-1974).

Sheikh Hasina

Sheikh Hasina (b. 1947). Bangledeshi politician and Prime Minister (1996-2001, 2009-).

Downing Street

London thoroughfare. Number ten is the official residence of the British Prime Minister.

Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal inter-governmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for promoting cooperation between members. Founded in 1965.

Cold War

A period of ideological tension from around 1945 to 1991 between capitalist nations led by the USA and communist nations led by the USSR.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Commonwealth Charter

The Commonwealth Charter was agreed in December 2012. The Charter sets out the principal values and aspiration of the modern Commonwealth. Click here to read the document in full.

Chequers

A British country house used by the Prime Minister.

Buthelezi

Mangosuthu Buthelezi (b. 1928). South African politician, founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975, and served as South African Minister of Home Affairs from 1994 to 2004.

Tony Blair

Tony Blair (b. 1953). British politician, served as Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007.

ANC

African National Congress. A South African political party, founded in 1912, that opposed apartheid and has been South Africa’s governing party since 1994.

Abacha (Sani Abacha)

General Sani Abacha (1943-1998). Nigerian army general and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.

Interview with Mark Chona

Interview with the Rt Hon Jim Bolger

Interview with David McDowell

Interview with Carl Dundas

Interview with Moses Anafu

Interview with Kamal Hossain

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