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Thank you very much, Chris. Everybody who came up here

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said they were scared. I don't know if I'm scared,

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but this is my first time of addressing an audience like this.

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And I don't have any smart technology for you to look at.

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There are no slides, so you'll just have to be content with me.

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(Laughter)

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What I want to do this morning is share with you a couple of stories

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and talk about a different Africa.

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Already this morning there were some allusions to the Africa

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that you hear about all the time: the Africa of HIV/AIDS,

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the Africa of malaria, the Africa of poverty, the Africa of conflict,

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and the Africa of disasters.

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While it is true that those things are going on,

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there's an Africa that you don't hear about very much.

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And sometimes I'm puzzled, and I ask myself why.

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This is the Africa that is changing, that Chris alluded to.

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This is the Africa of opportunity.

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This is the Africa where people want to take charge of

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their own futures and their own destinies.

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And this is the Africa where people are looking for partnerships

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to do this. That's what I want to talk about today.

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And I want to start by telling you

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a story about that change in Africa.

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On 15th of September 2005, Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha,

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a governor of one of the oil-rich states of Nigeria,

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was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police on a visit to London.

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He was arrested because there were transfers of eight million dollars

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that went into some dormant accounts

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that belonged to him and his family.

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This arrest occurred because there was cooperation

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between the London Metropolitan Police

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and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria --

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led by one of our most able and courageous people: Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.

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Alamieyeseigha was arraigned in London.

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Due to some slip-ups, he managed to escape dressed as a woman

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and ran from London back to Nigeria where,

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according to our constitution, those in office

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as governors, president -- as in many countries --

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have immunity and cannot be prosecuted. But what happened:

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people were so outraged by this behavior that it was possible

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for his state legislature to impeach him and get him out of office.

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Today, Alams -- as we call him for short -- is in jail.

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This is a story about the fact that people in Africa

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are no longer willing to tolerate corruption from their leaders.

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This is a story about the fact that people want their resources

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managed properly for their good, and not taken out to places

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where they'll benefit just a few of the elite.

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And therefore, when you hear about the corrupt Africa --

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corruption all the time -- I want you to know that the people

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and the governments are trying hard to fight this

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in some of the countries, and that some successes are emerging.

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Does it mean the problem is over? The answer is no.

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There's still a long way to go, but that there's a will there.

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And that successes are being chalked up on this very important fight.

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So when you hear about corruption,

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don't just feel that nothing is being done about this --

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that you can't operate in any African country

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because of the overwhelming corruption. That is not the case.

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There's a will to fight, and in many countries, that fight is ongoing

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and is being won. In others, like mine,

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where there has been a long history of dictatorship in Nigeria,

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the fight is ongoing and we have a long way to go.

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But the truth of the matter is that this is going on.

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The results are showing:

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independent monitoring by the World Bank and other organizations

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show that in many instances the trend is downwards

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in terms of corruption, and governance is improving.

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A study by the Economic Commission for Africa showed

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a clear trend upwards in governance in 28 African countries.

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And let me say just one more thing

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before I leave this area of governance.

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That is that people talk about corruption, corruption.

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All the time when they talk about it

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you immediately think about Africa.

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That's the image: African countries. But let me say this:

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if Alams was able to export eight million dollars into an account in London --

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if the other people who had taken money, estimated at

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20 to 40 billion now of developing countries' monies

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sitting abroad in the developed countries -- if they're able to do this,

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what is that? Is that not corruption?

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In this country, if you receive stolen goods, are you not prosecuted?

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So when we talk about this kind of corruption, let us also think

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about what is happening on the other side of the globe --

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where the money's going and what can be done to stop it.

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I'm working on an initiative now, along with the World Bank,

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on asset recovery, trying to do what we can

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to get the monies that have been taken abroad --

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developing countries' moneys -- to get that sent back.

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Because if we can get the 20 billion dollars sitting out there back,

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it may be far more for some of these countries

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than all the aid that is being put together.

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(Applause)

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The second thing I want to talk about is the will for reform.

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Africans, after -- they're tired, we're tired

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of being the subject of everybody's charity and care.

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We are grateful, but we know that

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we can take charge of our own destinies if we have the will to reform.

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And what is happening in many African countries now is a realization

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that no one can do it but us. We have to do it.

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We can invite partners who can support us, but we have to start.

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We have to reform our economies, change our leadership,

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become more democratic, be more open to change and to information.

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And this is what we started to do

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in one of the largest countries on the continent, Nigeria.

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In fact, if you're not in Nigeria, you're not in Africa.

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I want to tell you that.

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(Laughter)

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One in four sub-Saharan Africans is Nigerian,

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and it has 140 million dynamic people -- chaotic people --

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but very interesting people. You'll never be bored.

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(Laughter)

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What we started to do was to realize

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that we had to take charge and reform ourselves.

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And with the support of a leader

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who was willing, at the time, to do the reforms,

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we put forward a comprehensive reform program,

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which we developed ourselves.

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Not the International Monetary Fund. Not the World Bank,

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where I worked for 21 years and rose to be a vice president.

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No one can do it for you. You have to do it for yourself.

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We put together a program that would, one: get the state

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out of businesses it had nothing -- it had no business being in.

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The state should not be in the business

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of producing goods and services

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because it's inefficient and incompetent.

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So we decided to privatize many of our enterprises.

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(Applause)

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We -- as a result, we decided to liberalize many of our markets.

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Can you believe that prior to this reform --

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which started at the end of 2003, when I left Washington

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to go and take up the post of Finance Minister --

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we had a telecommunications company that was only able to develop

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4,500 landlines in its entire 30-year history?

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(Laughter)

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Having a telephone in my country was a huge luxury.

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You couldn't get it. You had to bribe.

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You had to do everything to get your phone.

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When President Obasanjo supported and launched

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the liberalization of the telecommunications sector,

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we went from 4,500 landlines to 32 million GSM lines, and counting.

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Nigeria's telecoms market is the second-fastest growing in the world,

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after China. We are getting investments of about a billion dollars a year

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in telecoms. And nobody knows, except a few smart people.

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(Laughter)

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The smartest one, first to come in,

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was the MTN company of South Africa.

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And in the three years that I was Finance Minister,

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they made an average of 360 million dollars profit per year.

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360 million in a market -- in a country that is a poor country,

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with an average per capita income just under 500 dollars per capita.

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So the market is there.

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When they kept this under wraps, but soon others got to know.

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Nigerians themselves began to develop

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some wireless telecommunications companies,

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and three or four others have come in.

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But there's a huge market out there,

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and people don't know about it, or they don't want to know.

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So privatization is one of the things we've done.

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The other thing we've also done is to manage our finances better.

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Because nobody's going to help you and support you

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if you're not managing your own finances well.

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And Nigeria, with the oil sector, had the reputation

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of being corrupt and not managing its own public finances well.

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So what did we try to do? We introduced a fiscal rule

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that de-linked our budget from the oil price.

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Before we used to just budget on whatever oil we bring in,

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because oil is the biggest, most revenue-earning sector

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in the economy: 70 percent of our revenues come from oil.

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We de-linked that, and once we did it, we began to budget

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at a price slightly lower than the oil price

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and save whatever was above that price.

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We didn't know we could pull it off; it was very controversial.

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But what it immediately did was that the volatility

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that had been present in terms of our economic development --

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where, even if oil prices were high, we would grow very fast.

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When they crashed, we crashed.

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And we could hardly even pay anything, any salaries, in the economy.

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That smoothened out. We were able to save, just before I left,

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27 billion dollars. Whereas -- and this went to our reserves --

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when I arrived in 2003, we had seven billion dollars in reserves.

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By the time I left, we had gone up to almost 30 billion dollars. And

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as we speak now, we have about 40 billion dollars in reserves

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due to proper management of our finances.

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And that shores up our economy, makes it stable.

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Our exchange rate that used to fluctuate all the time

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is now fairly stable and being managed so that business people

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have a predictability of prices in the economy.

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We brought inflation down from 28 percent to about 11 percent.

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And we had GDP grow from an average of 2.3 percent the previous decade

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to about 6.5 percent now.

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So all the changes and reforms we were able to make

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have shown up in results that are measurable in the economy.

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And what is more important, because we want to get away from oil

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and diversify -- and there are so many opportunities

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in this one big country, as in many countries in Africa --

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what was remarkable is that much of this growth came

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not from the oil sector alone, but from non-oil.

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Agriculture grew at better than eight percent.

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As telecoms sector grew, housing and construction,

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and I could go on and on. And this is to illustrate to you that

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once you get the macro-economy straightened out,

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the opportunities in various other sectors are enormous.

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We have opportunities in agriculture, like I said.

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We have opportunities in solid minerals. We have a lot of minerals

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that no one has even invested in or explored. And we realized

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that without the proper legislation to make that possible,

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that wouldn't happen. So we've now got a mining code

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that is comparable with some of the best in the world.

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We have opportunities in housing and real estate.

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There was nothing in a country of 140 million people --

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no shopping malls as you know them here.

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This was an investment opportunity for someone

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that excited the imagination of people.

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And now, we have a situation in which the businesses in this mall

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are doing four times the turnover that they had projected.

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So, huge things in construction, real estate,

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mortgage markets. Financial services:

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we had 89 banks. Too many not doing their real business.

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We consolidated them from 89 to 25 banks by requiring

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that they increase their capital -- share capital.

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And it went from about 25 million dollars to 150 million dollars.

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The banks -- these banks are now consolidated, and that strengthening

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of the banking system has attracted a lot of investment from outside.

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Barclays Bank of the U.K. is bringing in 500 million.

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Standard Chartered has brought in 140 million.

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And I can go on. Dollars, on and on, into the system.

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We are doing the same with the insurance sector.

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So in financial services, a great deal of opportunity.

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In tourism, in many African countries, a great opportunity.

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And that's what many people know East Africa for:

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the wildlife, the elephants, and so on.

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But managing the tourism market in a way

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that can really benefit the people is very important.

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So what am I trying to say? I'm trying to tell you

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that there's a new wave on the continent.

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A new wave of openness and democratization in which, since 2000,

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more than two-thirds of African countries have had

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multi-party democratic elections.

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Not all of them have been perfect, or will be,

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but the trend is very clear.

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I'm trying to tell you that since the past three years,

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the average rate of growth on the continent has moved

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from about 2.5 percent to about five percent per annum.

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This is better than the performance of many OECD countries.

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So it's clear that things are changing.

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Conflicts are down on the continent;

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from about 12 conflicts a decade ago,

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we are down to three or four conflicts --

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one of the most terrible, of course, of which is Darfur.

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And, you know, you have the neighborhood effect where

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if something is going on in one part of the continent,

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it looks like the entire continent is affected.

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But you should know that this continent is not --

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is a continent of many countries, not one country.

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And if we are down to three or four conflicts,

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it means that there are plenty of opportunities to invest

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in stable, growing, exciting economies

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where there's plenty of opportunity.

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And I want to just make one point about this investment.

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The best way to help Africans today

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is to help them to stand on their own feet.

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And the best way to do that is by helping create jobs.

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There's no issue with fighting malaria and putting money in that

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and saving children's lives. That's not what I'm saying. That is fine.

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But imagine the impact on a family: if the parents can be employed

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and make sure that their children go to school,

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that they can buy the drugs to fight the disease themselves.

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If we can invest in places where you yourselves make money

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whilst creating jobs and helping people stand on their own feet,

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isn't that a wonderful opportunity? Isn't that the way to go?

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And I want to say that some of the best people to invest in

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on the continent are the women.

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(Applause)

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I have a CD here. I'm sorry that I didn't say anything on time.

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Otherwise, I would have liked you to have seen this.

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It says, "Africa: Open for Business."

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And this is a video that has actually won an award

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as the best documentary of the year.

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Understand that the woman who made it

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is going to be in Tanzania, where they're having the session in June.

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But it shows you Africans, and particularly African women, who

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against all odds have developed businesses, some of them world-class.

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One of the women in this video, Adenike Ogunlesi,

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making children's clothes --

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which she started as a hobby and grew into a business.

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Mixing African materials, such as we have,

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with materials from elsewhere.

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So, she'll make a little pair of dungarees with corduroys,

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with African material mixed in. Very creative designs,

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has reached a stage where she even had an order from Wal-Mart.

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(Laughter)

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For 10,000 pieces.

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So that shows you that we have people who are capable of doing.

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And the women are diligent. They are focused; they work hard.

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I could go on giving examples:

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Beatrice Gakuba of Rwanda, who opened up a flower business

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and is now exporting to the Dutch auction in Amsterdam each morning

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and is employing 200 other women and men to work with her.

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However, many of these are starved for capital to expand,

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because nobody believes outside of our countries

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that we can do what is necessary. Nobody thinks in terms of a market.

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Nobody thinks there's opportunity.

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But I'm standing here saying that those who miss the boat now,

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will miss it forever.

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So if you want to be in Africa, think about investing.

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Think about the Beatrices, think about the Adenikes of this world,

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who are doing incredible things, that are bringing them

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into the global economy, whilst at the same time making sure

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that their fellow men and women are employed,

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and that the children in those households get educated

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because their parents are earning adequate income.

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So I invite you to explore the opportunities.

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When you go to Tanzania, listen carefully,

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because I'm sure you will hear of the various openings that there will be

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for you to get involved in something that will do good

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for the continent, for the people and for yourselves.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)