Mr. Ingo Herbert, a German diplomat has had stints at different parts of the world including Europe, Middle East, and Southern Africa before becoming German Consul General in Lagos, Nigeria. In this interview with Biodun-Thomas Davids he speaks on bilateral relationships between both countries and other germane issues. Excerpts:
What do you find very interesting about industry, commerce and tourism in Nigeria?
Generally, here at the Consulate General here in Lagos, we concentrate on economy, culture, media and scientific relations. But what I find very interesting is the energy-entrepreneurial spirit in Lagos, especially people with high potentials you have here. Lagos, to a certain extent is the commercial base of economy in Nigeria and an entity in itself. In Lagos, you have Nigerians who having had education and work experiences abroad returned to develop the country. I am happy to work with them and have cooperation with them.
What are the political and economic programmes that German Government or the Consulate has carried out in the last three years in the spirit of fostering bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Germany?
Let me clarify something here – general political and security cooperation are handled by German Embassy in Abuja, here at the Consulate, we concentrate on Lagos and Southern States, I focus a lot on Lagos for bilateral relations because German companies in Nigeria have about 90% representation in Lagos. On cultural representation, Goethe-Institut is here. On programmes, we just finished Nigerian German Business Forum here in Lagos to bring about good business relations. Then, at the Delegation of German Industry and Trade we try to attract more companies in Germany for investments in Nigeria, especially in Lagos. We have been having very interesting set of events- we have been having series of renewable energy seminars and partnership and lots of vocational trainings. We support a lot of vocational trainings with regard to culture. We support education, for example we established two schools in Ogun State offering German as a foreign language. Together with the Goethe Institut, we support cultural activities in Lagos. For example, six weeks ago we donated to Music Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, equipment worth N50million. We support initiative from Nigerian side, for example, we support Nollywood festival in Hamburg, Germany that Nigerian producers organised for the first time in May.
On academic relation, we have strengthened scientific cooperation with the University of Lagos. We have had trainings for the alumni. We also offer consular support services to Nigerian children who want to study in Germany. For this summer we offered more appointments than ever before.
Do you have any pending programme for the maintenance and expansion of bilateral relationship with Nigeria?
For the economic relation, we have set up German Desk in one of the private banks in Nigeria, that’s Access Bank. We also have G. Bank-German Development Bank for Private Cooperation, for …from Accra to Lagos. This summer there would be more business delegation. This summer we just started huge delegation of more than 30 people for the Nigerian German Business forum from Bavaria. We will continue our seminar for Renewable Energy; we will set up a new series of seminar on Waste Management. We are also working on strengthening German presence to achieving a real Nigerian German bilateral chamber in Lagos.
You’ve reeled off pretty number of programmes; can you attach annual monetary figure representation to them?
It will be difficult to give you particular figure, though the Consulate General here is funded by the German Government through tax payers’ money. Germany works a lot with what we called implementing agencies. For culture I mentioned, we have Goethe Institut, Trade Promotion is working on Vocational training with the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Ogun Chambers and other partners. We also have German companies, doing a lot of Vocational trainings; they can also apply for fund from the German government and do the trainings directly in Germany. There is also Giessen, an implementing agency funded by the German Government. They have special programmes to promote Small and Medium enterprises and Vocational training. They have done this for a lot of hundreds of thousands of people.
What we do directly ourselves at the Consulate include organisation of Renewable Energy and Waste Management seminars. We do these two to four times in a year. Delegation of German Industry and Trade handles trade and they received their money directly from the German Ministry of Economy. Goethe Institutes also get their money directly from German Government. We commit a lot of money on different programmes from different directions. That’s why I said I wouldn’t be able to give specific figure.
Considering your official language, is language serving any barrier to your investors in terms of business and interpersonal communications?
No, nowadays, English have become a language in Germany, and it’s thought in schools in Germany. Let me also state that representatives of German companies in Nigeria are used to speaking English. On the other end let me also state that Germans are known for being very direct in their communications and Nigerians are also very clear and direct in their communications, so communicating with Nigerians, to us, we find very easy.
To deepen the relationship, are you doing anything to integrate German as a language in Nigeria?
Yes, as I mentioned earlier, we have two schools in Ogun State offering German as a foreign language. With Goethe Institut we offer education partnership programmes and we are offering such partnership opportunities. Partnership school programmes,when a school needs such opportunities they are supported by the German Government. Generally, unlike some other countries, communications in Nigeria are very direct, we understand each other. Secondly, there are universities that are interested in introducing German, we have relationship in this educational capacity with universities in Ife and Ibadan. In the near future, we are working to have German lecturers for University of Lagos because if you mentioned the interest, more German investors are interested in coming to Nigeria. Of course having some measure of German Language by the hosts helps. Besides, Goethe Institut is offering linguistics classes because of high demand and because more and more people showing interest in studying in Germany. It’s nearly free, there are nearly no students fees in Germany, that makes it different from what obtain in other countries of the world. You just have to pay for accommodation and daily living cost.
To study German, right?
Yes, to study German, you just have to pay a small administrative fee. Now that interest in German class is increasing, there are now German courses in English, more than a thousand. But major German courses are in German official language knowledge. After US and UK, most foreign students study in Germany.
How will you react to the issue of power stability in Nigeria, relative to your investments and operations?
Yes. Power stability issue is definitely having huge impact on German investments in Nigeria. Several German companies are prepared to set up factories here as soon as energy question is resolved in a sufficient way. You have to consider that most productions are dependent on available energy supply every minute the machine is running. I learned that most of the equipment being used are so sophisticated that one minute interruption in power supply could destroy the production of the whole day. They are prepared to set up their own power plants but at least alternative gas power plant must be secured. Another alternative is Solar Energy and I believe German investors are very interested in the Nigerian market in this area to secure energy for many projects.
We have energy partnership with some universities. We have solar power plant for universities like Universities of Ibadan and Calabar because the universities spend so much of their budget on diesel. With solar energy and good weather condition you have here in Nigeria, you get energy for free by investment. Solar energy lasts for a long time and with good maintenance you can have it for over a period of 10 to 15 years, it lasts much longer than generator.
Security is very important to any investors. Presently, there are parts of the country investors have been wary about when it comes to investments. Do you have any partnership with Nigeria in this line?
As you stated, apart from political stability security is very important to any investors, especially foreign ones, that’s one of the reasons most German companies are based in Lagos, because Lagos State makes huge efforts to meet security needs of the population in the state and they have achieved a lot. We do have Police cooperation in Nigeria. We have training programmes, equipment assistance.
For the Nigeria Police Force?
For the Police Force, special agencies like EFCC, NAFDAC, NDLEA…
In what manner do you support EFCC, NAFDAC and NDLEA?
As I mentioned, we give training courses, we supply laboratory equipment, forensic laboratory for EFCC. We support initiatives to fight corruption in the country. We support Soyinka Foundation campaigning against corruption among children. We are working together with EFCC and Wole Soyinka Foundation. They have creative ideas in this area for students in dealing with corruption.
The present Government in Nigeria has been trying to identify banks in which payments of stolen crude oil are deposited and World Bank reportedly listed Germany as one of the G-7 countries in which three ex Nigerian presidents and 17 others stashed loots. What’s German Government doing for recovery and repatriation of such loots?
I cannot confirm if there are any of such funds in Germany. As I mentioned, there is official police cooperation between Nigeria and Germany. So far any request from Nigeria towards that could not be confirmed from German Banks. We take seriously requests from Nigerian side; so far the result is that Nigerians have not used German banks to channel loots from Nigeria. I can’t confirm such.
As gathered, World Bank list in 2011 mentioned Germany as one of the G-7 countries in which three former Nigerian leaders, five military chiefs, and 13 government officials stashed whopping $58.9bn
I have not seen that report, if you can send it to me fine, we will send it to our Police liaison offices. We take very seriously request from Nigerian side- money laundry, human trafficking or any other organised crime, we check, then we respond. Let me also state that German Banking regulations are very strict and transparent. We ourselves, we have very tight issues with other countries regarding fund or money from German citizens illegally transferred to other countries. But if you could send me this report, we will check it again.
Sorry, if I may still take you further on that, are you aware of German Commerz Bank?
German Commerz Bank has an office in Nigeria, but I cannot speak for them. But of course whenever we have official request we take it up with the relevant institutions in Germany….
Nigerian loots traced from US actually allegedly mentioned Germany’s Commerz Bank as one of the foreign banks in which late president Sani Abacha stashed Nigerian looted fund. Do you have any information?
No, I don’t have any information, I can’t confirm that, Germany’s Commerz Bank has office representation in Nigeria, you could channel this question directly to Commerz Bank, because I am not aware of such report neither do I have any information, we can give you contacts of Commerz Bank representation in Nigeria. As I told you if you sent your request from Nigerian official side we will take it very seriously.
There are claims that visa to Germany among Schengen visas is very difficult to secure. What is the true situation?
Well, we issue Schengen visas and there are laid down regulations for issuing Schegen Visas and you just have to meet the requirements. You have to prove you are able to finance your trip to Germany, that you have proper health insurance for the duration of your trip and that you have investment or evidences showing you will return to Nigeria after expiration of your stay. Those are the major three criteria we use. With Schegen system, before we can issue a visa we always say we need a period of 10 days. We properly check if there are criminal cases against your may be because of money laundry If we could verify such on the system we will refuse you visa otherwise we will not.
You have handled series of visa application cases, from your experience, what are the major reasons accounting for refusing Nigerians Visas?
As I mentioned you have to meet the requirements, quite often applicants do not present all the documents we are asking for, another reason is that, quite often, application documents are fraudulent documents.
Can you give three or four instances of such applications?
Let me say that our readers should not follow recommendations by any person outside the Consulate to present papers that are not mentioned on our website. We have clear form on our website, with information stating all the necessary required documents to be presented. We advice, you don’t rely on any third party advice. Quite often applicants present unwanted documents through advice of agencies. Through our website: www.Nigeria.diplo.de you can get all the requirements.
Do you have Nigerian companies in Germany?
No, no, if you want to have investments in Germany, you have to set up German company as we have German companies in Nigeria. Most of Nigerian business men are going to Germany for fairs we are organising or to attend trainings and seminars or supply of goods.
So far, so good, you have spent over three years in Nigeria, what are the hurdles and successes?
Great challenge is in working towards better image of Nigeria. At the Consulate, to our German investors, we always advocate Lagos as a destination. The same for business and cultural relations and I believe in the next few years we could make German presence more visible in Lagos. I mentioned quite a lot of initiatives and I hope with my successor in midterm, we will have real bilateral chamber, Nigerian German Chamber of Commerce and German House in Lagos.