Former US President Jimmy Carter became the longest-living president in United States history two Fridays ago.
Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, reached the age of 94 years and 172 days, on Friday March 22, 2019, making him a day older than former President George Herbert Walker Bush who died last November. Bush Sr. (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was the 41st president of the United States and father of George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009.
Born October 1 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A Democrat, he previously served as a Georgia State senator from 1963 to 1967 and as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.
Jimmy served as US president for only one term when he lost to Republican Ronald Reagan who succeeded him in 1981, but he is generally regarded as a model former president and has enjoyed the longest post-presidency period in American history after leaving the White House in 1981.
Through the Carter Centre, the Atlanta-based non-profit organisation that Mr. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, founded in 1982, the former president continues to engage in the causes and activities that support development, health and democracy in many countries of the world.
Nigeria is one country that has benefitted from Jimmy Carter’s post-presidential programmes and projects in several decades and you don’t need to look far to find out why Jimmy Carter has this closeness and provides support for projects in Nigeria.
Jimmy Carter was the first American President to visit Nigeria and that was in 1978.
For the past decades, his love for Nigeria has not waned, even when there were reasons to wane. His first visit to Nigeria was also the first State visit by an American president to sub-Saharan Africa.
Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria’s military leader when as US president, Jimmy Carter visited this country from March 31 to April 3, 1978. That State visit must have served as an attraction for Mr. Carter because his contact with Nigeria has continued and he has used the Carter Centre to promote many projects in different parts of Nigeria.
Millions of Nigerians have been spared lots of suffering, thanks to collaborative efforts of The Carter Centre and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health to address widespread neglected diseases such as Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, river blindness, trachoma, and malaria. The Carter Centre has also assisted in efforts to build democracy and peace in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta and with other projects.
Elections monitoring is one major area that Mr. Carter and the Centre have been very active in Nigeria and they have not shied away from disagreeing with flawed electoral processes and have written to state their positions after such elections. From the 1999 elections conducted after the death of Gen. Sani Abacha in June 1998 and when the Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar agreed to hand over power the following year, The Carter Centre was invited to observe elections called for February 1999.
The Carter Centre and its partner, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), observed voting in February 1999, for National Assembly and President. The Observers were led by Jimmy Carter himself, who was joined by retired U.S. Army Gen. Colin Powell and former Niger President Mahamane Ousmane to lead a 66-member delegation to monitor the election and they did not fail to register their misgivings about the irregularities they noticed.
President Carter and his centre have continued to be involved in the election process since the 2003 presidential election up till the last elections in February 2019. Some of their recommendations for pre-election activities like public display of voters register, publicizing the number of registered voters, informing citizens on how to acquire voters card, and simplifying the process for accrediting election observers seem to now form a big part of the procedures.
Other areas of Nigeria’s national life where Jimmy Carter has supported the system include Encouraging a Free Press, Defending Human Rights, Resolving Conflict, particularly in the Niger Delta which Jimmy Carter has visited, as well as Fighting Disease, an area where projects have been set up for Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease, Eliminating River Blindness, Eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis, Controlling Trachoma, Targeting Schistosomiasis, Controlling Malaria and Increasing Food Production.
In all these projects, Jimmy Carter has been in the forefront, providing leadership and funding, through the Carter Centre to help provide better life for Nigerians.
At 94, his visits to Nigeria and other parts of the world have of course been getting fewer and fewer, but age has not reduced his enthusiasm to carry on supporting this country where he remains the first American president to set foot on the soil.
Jimmy Carter’s visits may also not been receiving all the loud publicity which a co-former president like Bill Clinton on a speaking tour will receive. But we salute this great man who did not hesitate to blaze the trail to visit our shores, even in the height of the Cold War in 1978.
Hail to the Chief, the longest living president in the history of the United States of America!
Image credit: npr.com
Ogie Eboigbe, veteran journalist, broadcaster and public affairs specialist writes and analyses current and historical issues with a ‘wise pen’.
