Nigeria’s envoy to Germany Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar talks about the relationship between the two countries and how the mission is dealing with illegal migrants and other issues in this interview with Olayinka Oyegbile, Deputy Editor.
WHAT has it been like representing Nigeria as Ambassador in an important country as Germany?
I have been in Germany for a year and four months now and it has indeed been an honour and a privilege to represent one continental leader- Nigeria in another- Germany. We have had a very long history of relations and ties with Germany; the first European to make the crossing over land from Europe to the Atlantic Ocean- Friedrich Gerhard Rolfs was a German, making it all the way to Lagos. There is an increasing need for regional (even global) leaders like Nigeria and Germany to work closely together in an increasingly globalised world and this can only be achieved with better understanding of each other beyond stereotypes and past impressions. This is why I have introduced a second work plan at the embassy that sees us engaging the 16 German states, taking Nigeria to them and learning more about them. And I have to say, the reception has been salutary and very warm.
As a former member of the House of Representatives and a governorship aspirant, was your appointment as an Ambassador not a way to take you away from your immediate constituency?
Well my appointment was by the President, whom I have been with through a long and arduous political journey- from ANPP to CPC to APC today. We shared the experience of being rigged of electoral victory, drawn out court cases (all the way to the Supreme Court), though I did not go there as many times as he did. So I am certain the President did not view appointing me an Ambassador as a way of taking me away from my constituency, but rather felt I could serve the nation positively in that capacity even if political adversaries may celebrate it as having gotten rid of me. But how very wrong they are; in an interconnected planet, I remain fully in touch with the electorate and serving as an Ambassador has given me the opportunity to put some of the International Relations theories I learnt as a student to the test in what is arguably the political capital of Europe. With my degrees in International Relations, I probably would not have left this planet a fulfilled man without serving in this capacity. Bottom line is, it’s all about serving the public and giving back to our nation in whatever capacity.
What do you consider as your major achievements taking into cognisance the importance of Germany as an economic power and an important European nation?
The Embassy has achieved quite a lot since I took over as Ambassador. We began with a 90-day work plan of internal reforms and operational capability enhancement; improving the embassy website, reforming visa and passport renewal processes through online appointments, introducing POS payments, rationalising local staff employment to conform with the foreign ministry’s policies, applying monitoring and evaluation processes including Key Performance Indicators and setting up data and statistical gathering mechanisms. The next phase was to introduce the second work plan I touched on earlier that sees us drilling down to the 16 German states and engaging them broadly on Nigeria. We have also successfully helped organise a visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nigeria in August, during which four agreements were signed between the Nigerian Automotive Design & Development Council (NADDC) and Volkswagen, Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and PEKUS (a German medium-sized company that is a world leader in seeds and grains equipment and technology), NACCIMA and Afrika Verein (the Association of German-African businesses consisting on all the major German investors in the continent- Siemens, VW, Lufthansa, Bosch, Bayer, Julius Berger, Strabag, etc.) and lastly one between Nigerian-owned Genesis Energy and Voith Hydro- the worlds pioneer hydro electric company.
As a follow-up, we organised a visit by Vice President Osinbajo to Berlin during which there was a well-attended townhall meeting with Nigerians residing in Germany, an equally oversubscribed business dialogue, bilateral meetings with German President Walter Steinmeier, ministers, CEOs of businesses, a follow-up visit to PETKUS at their campus in the eastern state of Thuringia (during which another agreement was signed between NIRSAL and PETKUS) as well as a meeting with members of the German parliament- the Bundestag. So I believe we are well on our way. The German Chancellor was recently in Nigeria, can you tell us the important takeaways of this visit?
Well, I believe I have inadvertently answered this question by addressing the previous one. The Chancellor was accompanied by a business delegation and on our part we used the opportunity to provide a platform for them to interact with some of the leading businesses in their respective sectors as well as heads of MDAs. The two countries also made progress in improving their understanding on migration, which is presently on the front burner of global discourse.
How are you coping with the issue of Nigerian migrants swarming into Europe?
First, by trying to improve better understanding of the subject on both sides. It is important to understand that migration is not a new phenomenon in human history and has been going on for centuries and it is an integral part of globalisation. With increasing interconnectivity and free movement of goods and services also comes movement of people. We must however ensure that people move through formal structured processes, with dignity and not illegally and undocumented. The Nigerian government is doing a lot to ensure more jobs are created and microfinance is readily available so our youth will not even have to contemplate becoming aspirational migrants. The German government is equally supportive of this and the Ministry of Labour and Productivity is collaborating with them and opening return and reintegration centres to help absorb Nigerians after training them. We are also sensitising Nigerians in Germany so that the kinship networks that facilitate migrants would help cascade the message that the grass is not greener over there for unskilled workers. We must however not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is the largest shock absorber for migrants in Africa and we have been taking in more migrants than any other, so it is not every migrant that makes it to Europe that is Nigerian, some simply pass through our country and even more so with the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement. You may remember what happened in 1983 when Internal Affairs Minister Ali Baba asked non-Nigerians to leave and in 1984 when General Buhari’s military government decided to close our borders; international pressure was mounted and the world capitals pleaded with us to reverse our decision.
How then do you access the Nigerian community, are they cooperative and law abiding?
Nigerians are by-and-large law abiding, even though like all other countries, we have our bad eggs. We relate very well with umbrella bodies such as NIDO, the Nigerian Community/Union, cultural groups and student bodies. We have tried to ease the passport renewal process for them and have addressed the push back by those resisting reform and the fight against corrupt practices and can only thank them for their cooperation and understanding. We are trying to focus on positive Nigerian role models in Germany like Emeka Ogboh, a world renowned artist living in Berlin, for instance.
What are the areas of investment open to Nigerians in Germany and vice versa?
There are several areas that conform with Nigeria’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan. In agriculture, there is a demand for Nigerian sweet potato of the red variety, for instance. We also have several super-foods like moringa, baobab among several others. We receive a lot of enquiries from German businesses interested in renewable energy (solar in particular) in Nigeria. Nigeria has investment opportunities in infrastructure, Special Economic Zones and opportunities abound in the financial sector where Lagos and Frankfurt with their banks and stock exchanges present investment opportunities. The health and solid minerals sector (metals refining). And then there is the German dual system of education that makes it a leader in vocational training and skills acquisition which led the Embassy to help facilitate the iCreate Skills Fest competition to help promote Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) in October of this year. But of course we have to create the jobs for those trained to be employed which is why the two-track approach of developing old economy heavy industry and new economy information technology-based growth is most germane. The German economy relies on medium-sized, family-owned businesses and we are seeking to bring them together with our own SMEs, which is why the DGs of SMEDAN and NITDA were part of the delegation that accompanied the Vice President to Germany during his recent visit.
Can you tell us the level of the success of the Vice president’s trip?
It was a hugely successful trip, coming at a time of renewed German and European interest in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. As Chairman of Nigeria’s National Economic Council as well as the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), it was important and reassuring for the German private sector to hear from the Vice President the giant strides Nigeria has made in enshrining policy predictability, secured property rights and effectiveness of contracts, since 2015.
What the visit meant to solidify the earlier visit of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nigeria?
It was indeed a follow up on some of the agreements and achievements of the Chancellors visit though not exclusively restricted to them.
