Anyaoku, Emeka

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1995
HIS EXCELLENCY, CHIEF EMEKA ANYAOKU
to be Doctor of Laws

It is one of the truths of life that we can do nothing to change the past, while what we do with the present and the future is limited only by our own determination. Today we welcome to the University of New Brunswick a man who lives by that precept. His Excellency Chief Emeka Anyaoku is Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. He has spent his long career transforming the ideals of freedom, peace, and democracy into workable realities. His tireless efforts in the name of human rights and international order have made him one of the most admired leaders of the Commonwealth.

Chief Anyaoku was born in Nigeria when European empire and racist beliefs dominated life in Africa. He is living proof of the power of the individual human spirit and of the will to overcome life's odds. He attended University College Ibadan, where he took an Honours Degree in Classics and was a College Scholar. He subsequently took specialized courses in Britain and France before joining the Commonwealth Development Corporation, serving in Lagos and London. After Nigeria's independence in 1960, he entered its diplomatic service, first as a Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then as a member of Nigeria's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. When the Commonwealth Secretariat was formed in 1965, the first secretary-general, Canada's Arnold Smith, requested his help in establishing that body.

In the thirty years since then, with one brief interruption when he served as Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Chief Anyaoku has devoted himself to the service of the Commonwealth and its ideals. No one has expressed those ideals better than he. When chosen Secretary-General by Commonwealth heads of government, he accepted with the pledge to use all his energy and resources to foster the sense of equality and interdependence among member nations. The Commonwealth, he said, must be "realistic and imaginative enough to be guided in its activities by the knowledge that our proper constituencies are not only the present generation, but also the future unborn of this world." It was the duty of the Commonwealth to bring a 'healing touch' to international relations, and "to contribute to efforts to wipe out the intolerable historical legacy that sustains, sometimes unwittingly, the notion that some human beings are inherently superior or inferior to others."

These are the ideals that have always shaped his career. He has used the good offices of the Commonwealth to promote democracy and confidence in the electoral process by sending observer missions to multi-party elections in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Zambia, Seychelles, Guyana, Kenya, and Lesotho. He visited South Africa regularly during its transition to full democracy, and sent Commonwealth observers to help find solutions to the violence which was impeding negotiations. He has promoted social and economic development as the essential pillars of democracy and equality, and he has spoken out vigorously in the name of human rights.

The problems that Chief Anyaoku has confronted in his lifetime are never far from us, even in Canada. When evidence of ethnic, racial, and religious intolerance can be found in our own society, it is difficult to imagine how the world can ever be free of them. Yet, it is also clear that one man can make a difference. Your Excellency, you do us great honour by visiting our University today. You give new meaning and vigor to the term ‘commonwealth.’ You remind us that our common humanity transcends the injustices of history, and that whatever we do to build a better future we must do together. Your principles and your achievements inspire us all.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3