Ambassador Ayoola Olukanni, Nigeria High Commissioner in Australia spoke with Soji Omotunde in Canberra. He believes that the key thing is for respective states and government to identify their comparative area of strength and tap into what Australia has to offer.
What is your assessment of the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Australia?
Well, I can say that our ties are at a very high level. In fact, in diplomatic terms we can say at the highest level if you go by the various agreements which have been signed between Nigeria and Australia. President Goodluck Jonathan had an official visit to Australia in 2011 during which an agreement was signed between Nigeria and Australia for the establishment of the Australian-Nigeria Trade and Investment council. It was signed between President Jonathan and the Australia Prime Minister Julia Eileen Gillard. Then of course, we also have the agreement MOU at the level of two foreign ministers and I don’t think we can have it better than that; it encapsulates very cordial ties between our two countries
With that relationship, what has been the result of the bilateral discussion between the President and the Prime Minister? That is, how far with the agreed Australia–Nigeria Trade Investment Council? What has happened to it? Or has it ended just like that?
It has not ended. I’m glad to say that the Australia – Nigeria Trade and Investment Council has been established already. There is a council on the Nigerian side and we conceived there will be a council in Perth. Perth is the capital of Western Australia which is one of the very strong mining states in Australia. In Nigeria, there is secretariat in Lagos which of course is up and running already. The function of these secretariats is to coordinate foreign investments in four strategic areas: mining, agriculture, financial services as well as energy.
Those are the four areas and I am glad to say that a lot is going on. Perhaps, maybe I can mention that in the area of mining, we have witnessed an increase in the number of Australian mining companies from about six to about 10 or 12 now in Nigeria, with total investment running close to about 20billion Australian dollars. A lot is already going on.
But we didn’t see much of Australian participation in the energy sector when PHCN was being sold. The expectation was that the country will be supporting more of the transformation agenda of President Jonathan administration, of which energy is a crucial part. Why was Australia not really incorporated?
You may directly not have the big Australian energy companies. In the area of services and others, you have a lot of Australian companies that are involved; also in oil and gas too as well.
But apart from that, you mentioned the transformation agenda of Mr. President. I think there is a critical component to that – and that is capacity building as well as human resources development. That is reflected in the total number of scholarships Australia has awarded and given to Nigerians, especially both at the post-graduate level and the public service. I’m happy to say that we are witnessing a continuous increase in the number of scholarships for Nigerians, so much so that from about 15 awards last year, we are looking at 31 for 2013 in various areas: postgraduate scholarships for students in the areas of mining, public sector, administration, education, conflict resolution, population, health and in the area of climate and environmental studies – an array of specific and very important areas. So, I think in a way, if you look into the context of exactly what is happening, that it is people who will affect a transformational agenda. I think Australia’s support for Nigeria in the context of these scholarship schemes for people who will belong in institutions is a very key and significant aspect in terms of support for the transformation agenda.
I agree with you; but being here in Australia, I’ve seen impressive developments – the good roads all over the place, organized cities, flourishing economy, good educational sector. What do you think should be done to make Nigeria benefit from this kind of relationship so that it won’t be just that Australia has this and Nigeria has that when even with a relationship we are not seeing things being practicalized? What should be done to attract more investors and investible funds from Australia, and maybe New Zealand, to other sectors?
Let me give a good example of how I think the ties between our two countries have become very beneficial for Nigeria and indeed of course that Nigeria can also continue on the development trajectory that will be able to rate high in context of vision and development.
A little background: Australia is the 13th richest country in the world in terms of GDP. The basic of course, the areas in terms of its wealth comes from mining, education, in the area of infrastructure development and of course area of science and technology, research and development. So much so that today, people talk about Australian technology as the vanguard. In the field of mining and development, I think one of the things that they have done and we can benefit from, and they are ready to cooperate with us is that mining in Australia is mining for development. It is not that you excavate resources and you leave the place like that; it is sustainable mining and like I said, mining is total in the context that when, take for example, there is iron ore deposits in some parts of Australia, they build railways, airports, airstrips and new towns. The new towns come in the sense of high developments with infrastructures, roads and everything, which include clinics and every other thing. So it is total development and that is why it is called mining for development.
This is one of the areas of Australia’s mining sector which I think we can benefit from and I’m happy to say that the Australian government, especially the state of Western Australia has offered Nigeria a lot of scholarships and have agreed to partner with us.
Are we responding?
Of course we are responding in various ways. We are responding in sending students here to learn, to be able to work closely and be attached to state development department of Western Australia. There is also the international mining for development centre which was adequately supported by the Australian government. We have Nigerians who are in these institutions as well.
So there is a response; there is an exchange between the two of us to replicate the mining sector in Nigeria, which has a lot of potentials across the length and breadth of the country to help in terms of development, that yes, we can work closely with the Australians to be able to also replicate what they have done here. And I am also very happy that indeed, there is a specific conference which is now becoming widely known internationally: The African Mining Downunder Conference. Nigeria regularly attends this conference and a lot of states have taken interest. It is a forum, an avenue where Australian miners and state government with people who are in mining and resources in Nigeria meet generally. We have been there regularly, and last year I can confirm to you that there has been indeed a follow up. A lot of Australians are interested because we have something like an investment forum during that conference and I’m very happy to say that many Australians responded to our call to come and see and some of them have just come back from Nigeria. They visited states like Zamfara, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Cross River and some other states as well to look at what exactly the potentials are.
One great potential of Nigeria is in the agricultural sector and I think agriculture here is successful too. Is there anything being done specially beyond mining?
Yes. The agricultural sector is also an area of interest. Like I said, if you look at the agreement just signed between President Jonathan and the Australian Prime Minister, agriculture is one of the important areas which they are focusing on. In terms of animal husbandry, the Australians have been known to be very good in this. In fact, they export a lot of live animals: cattle, horse, sheep and very many across the world. So this is an area in which they are very good at and I am happy to say that some of their people who went to Nigeria had it in their discussion.
They looked at diary farming and are expected to establish farms and help to bring species of cattle to Nigeria. And then the other area is dry land farming as well, because don’t forget, the Central Australia is a desert, and we do have parts of the country which are bordering deserts. They have also expressed interest to work closely with us in this particular area, to push that. But I think the key thing for us is for respective states and government to be able to identify their comparative area of strengths and to be able to tap into what Australia has to offer.
How is the Nigerian community in Australia faring? Is the far distance between Nigeria and Australia not a problem?
The Nigeria community in Australia is a great community. It is a community of skilled migrants and I can say honestly, in terms of the quality, the calibre of the people you have here, you can say we have the highest number of skilled professionals here: medical doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers – and they are all in various parts of Australia. Australia has about six states and then there is one other area which is the tourists’ island area. We have Nigerians in all these places like in the state of Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Southern Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland.
You have Nigerians in all these places as medical doctors, nurses, lawyers etc. I can give example in New South Wales of directors in the office of the auditor general. Nigerian medical doctors are all over the place and ironically, and they are very key and very important. A lot of them are holding their own structures, especially the ones in the rural areas because if you come into Australia as a skilled medical practitioner, the first place they will send you to is the rural area. This is because generally their people don’t want to go to rural areas. In the rural areas, Nigerians are the ones holding most of these places.
Let me give you an example of my experience. At a reception, I came across some people, Australians who run chains of medical clinics and wanted to offer medical care and they got to know that I am the Nigerian High Commissioner. They introduced themselves and said that they have about 10 Nigerian doctors in their establishment, and they said: can you please help us because we want more Nigerian doctors? And I asked, why do you want more Nigerian doctors? And they responded saying, because the Nigerian doctors have the best bedside manners. I am very proud that my nationals have been described in those glowing terms. There are about 10,000 Nigerians in Australia, but some of them have also become Australians.
Are they the doctors?
I’m talking about the community generally, and ironically, they not only come from Nigeria. The Nigerian professionals, engineers and others come from different parts of the world and I’m also happy to say that they are also holding their own as far as the mining industry is concerned, helping to maintain those sophisticated equipments. There are mining engineers and also some who are in the field of investments.
If these professionals are here and they are learning, are they ready to go back home so that they can be of use to their nations? Or are they here to stay permanently?
Well, thank you for that question. Now, what we did in the mission is to envision what I refer to as a draft programme of cooperation with the Nigerian community in which we identified very many of them and we are seeing in the context of the Diaspora initiative of the government. That is, how can Nigerian Diaspora in Australia contribute to development at home? So we have this draft programme of cooperation and there are various segments in it: sustainable development. We are looking at it in the context of emigrational development. We are looking at them as the whole of Nigerian professionals in respective areas as far as Nigeria itself is concerned. We are also looking at them in terms of the context of cultural coorperation. How can we help in terms of preserving Nigerian culture? But in the context of development, you know the Nigeria Diaspora has been identified as very important in terms of Nigeria’s development aspirations and that’s why of course we can engage with the community. What we do, is that in fact, when anyone has any ideas in terms of wanting to go back home, we work closely with them.
Generally, of course, we are not saying you should carry your bag and baggage and go back to Nigeria, but you can contribute to development from where you are as a Nigerian, maybe as a Nigerian in the area of mining who has been in Australia for close to about 20 years.
During the last meeting at the mining conference, some of them came forward to us to present ideas on how we can improve the mining sector and I am happy to say that a few of them also linked with Nigerian prospective miners. Some of them went back home to offer ideas and floated companies which now makes them to go back to be part and parcel of the development at home. Some of them, of course, also have initiative in terms of the possible formation of the forum of Nigerian doctors in Australia that is their next initiative. The forum of medical doctors here in Australia, who will during a particular period, go back home, maybe to a particular state, they can pick a particular clinic to practice, to be able to offer their services free, pro bono. These are some of the things. We are not saying we are going to give them jobs at home, but we are saying that from where you are, you can still contribute to the development of Nigeria.
We read in the newspaper of the improved consular services here. So, how has it been working?
Like we say, to God be the glory. We thank God for what we have been able to do in the area of consular. When I arrived Australia, there was no passport machine in Australia, of course there was no biometric passport machine. So we decided that.
How was it being done then?
Well, actually people go to other places, maybe next door Malaysia or other places to process their passport. But looking at the size of the population here and the calibre of people, we said no, we must work towards that and I want to seize this opportunity to appreciate the Comptroller General of Immigration who in close cooperation with us, finally agreed and we were able to secure a biometric passport machine which we use in processing passport here for Nigerians. The long and short of it here is that the consular services in this particular area have greatly improved that you can collect your passport here in hours. I mean come to think of it, Abuja or Nigeria is not next door to Australia. We are talking of a flight of 23 hours, and in terms of ticket, we are talking about close to the average of three or four thousand dollars return. So, we owe our people the duty to be able to issue passport and at least provide basic consular services and of course this has been up and running and we are very happy and also the community itself is also happy that there is improved services as far as the consular section is concerned.
We learnt that the mission participated in Canberra multi-cultural festival last February which gave an opportunity for the display of Nigeria’s art and crafts. How prepared is Nigeria to partake in the 100th anniversary of Canberra?
First, let me say in context of what we refer to as our roadmap, because at the beginning of each year, we sit down in the mission to envision a roadmap, a roadmap which cuts across what we can achieve in our political and economic relations as far as public diplomacy, media and information are concerned and of course cultural as well. This is what we do regularly. So for us, the area of culture is very strong, very important area harnessing Nigeria’s cultural heritage and putting it out there.
This is one of the driving forces why we participated in the national multi-cultural festival because Australia is now a multi-cultural society and the respective groups – the Chinese, the Malaysians, the Indians, Africans – everybody. It is a kaleidoscope of colours as well as cultures and that is why we are thinking that for us, we must be able to promote our own culture. We participated in the Canberra multicultural festival last year which gave us lots of exposure and you will be shocked by the number of people that attended and came to our stand. Apparently, a lot of Australians who have been to Nigeria, who have worked in various areas in Nigeria, way back in the 70s and also several people, even the Indians, whose parents were in Nigeria were all attracted to our place because we were able to project our culture. We had the Eyo dance, our music, arts and crafts, we also had out dresses and in fact it was very rewarding as our stall was one of the most attractive.
Now we built on that for 2013 when Canberra will be 100 years and the national multi-cultural festival in Australia is going to take an added significance because it will be a celebration of 100 years. So, we are preparing a group from Nigeria, and also of course, perhaps I should say that there are various Nigerian cultural groups in and around Australia, in various states and we want to work closely with these ones to be able to make a good presentation of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.
Significantly, going through Canberra, one can see similarities in Canberra and Abuja. If Abuja was modeled after Canberra and is going to have this kind of multi-cultural event, how is our own Federal Capital Territory getting integrated into that? At least to learn more about the place that it was built on?
Thank you. Honestly speaking, you are correct. When you drive around Canberra, you get the impression you are in Abuja; both in terms of the topography, also in terms of the layout, of the planning and also of the environment generally. I do say that Canberra inspired Abuja. Administratively, here in Canberra, you have the ACT which is the Australian Capital Territory, which is replicated in FCT – Federal Capital Territory in Abuja. And then the concept of satellite towns too perhaps was also borrowed from here. Maybe there are other capitals in the world too but this is what happens. We have the CBD and then you have the satellite towns from where people commute and come in. This is exactly what we have in Abuja and that’s why when Abuja was established, at the planning as well as during the process of implementation, we had a lot of delegation from 1975 up to when they moved to Abuja that came into Canberra in Australia to see. And so you can see this link in terms of Canberra inspiring the planning of Abuja.
Is Abuja showing interest to really build on that?
Well, the mission is taking the initiative to ensure that Abuja is taking interest. We have written to the Federal Capital Territory, the minister and others to draw attention to the multi-cultural festival and to draw attention to Canberra 100 and then we think it is desirable if we can have a delegation and I think we are working on that so that we can also see how Canberra had maintained its plan originally as conceived, so that Abuja can also do the same.
But I must also of course commend the administration in Abuja, that it is not easy in terms of holding grip on to the master plan and you know this is of course an open secret that the FCT administration has generally been struggling and making efforts and they have done well but they can of course still improve on that so we think that a delegation from Abuja and others coming into Canberra will serve as an initiative again in terms of encouraging us to let us return Abuja to the original plan in terms of the master plan of Abuja as a true Federal Capital Territory – quiet administrative set up.
So you are saying that it is possible for Abuja to maintain the standard they copied from Canberra?
It is absolutely possible and I think they are on the right path in terms of restoring back the master plan in various areas. Infrastructure is also being developed in terms of the rail network to connect with the satellite cities. If you drive around here (Canberra), if you go to Gungahlin, Belconnen, Woden Valley, the satellite towns of Canberra, you will see the road network, bus stops and everything there. So this is what I think we are saying of the possibility of a sister city initiative as part of central city too as well.
At home, we read in the newspaper reports of financial challenges confronting many Nigerian missions abroad. So what’s the situation here in Australia?
Well, like they say, one illness that catches someone or a particular animal catches every other. We know the crises of finances as far as respective missions are concerned. So, Canberra is not immune to this. But what we want to say essentially is that at least government has recognized that and we should give kudos to the president and to the present administration in terms of its determination to improve on funding of missions.
What we have done in our case is to as much as possible try and cut our coat according to our size, but we faced serious challenges because the Australian dollar is stronger than the US dollar and you have to convert to Australian dollars. It means that when you change ten thousand US dollars, you get about just nine thousand, so you lose some money. This is one of the challenges which we have faced here as far as the missions are concerned. But we are positive that this year, definitely, in terms of funding, things will be better. We have those promises from the administration in the ministry and they have also recognized the importance of Canberra as Nigeria’s major diplomatic outpost in this part of the world to the entire pacific region because the mission also covers New Zealand, Fiji Island, Papua New Guinea as well as Vanuatu.
What is your message to Nigeria as to how to really get transformed in line with the policy of the present administration by utilizing the resources and potentials that are there? What is your message to the country?
There is no doubt that our country Nigeria is a great country and we have been talking about the potentials for a long time. Gradually hacking the transformational agenda of Mr. President is helping to re-orientate us on the right path. And of course hopefully, vision 2020 will help in terms of inspiring. But let me say this that recently, Australia released an Australia in Asian century whitepaper report. The white paper report was commissioned by the government of Australia in October 2011. Last year, the white paper was released and what is the essence of the white paper? The Australia in Asian century is not different from vision 2020. It is just saying that where should Australia be by the year 2025? They recognized the fact that this is an Asian century. That if you take all of the Asian countries together in this century, that will be the engine of growth and development of the world. They will have the highest number of middle class people and Australia decided that they must tap into that.
That was why the Australia in an Asian century whitepaper was released. And out of that, they set targets for themselves, targets like say: by 2025 they want to make sure that Australia which is the 13th richest country in the world today becomes the 10th richest country and that GDP will increase from sixty two thousand dollars to seventy five thousand dollars, that all the educational system should ensure that Australian children can speak and learn one major Asian language, either Mandarin, or Indian, or Malaysian language, and that the business sector should be Asian literate in the sense that they must learn the culture because their intention is to tap into the wealth in Asia in China, India, Indonesia.
I think there is a lot of a lesson to learn from these kinds of situations that also in context of our own existence, that we need to take a long view of history and also pursue effectively a particular vision. We have vision 2020 and programmes. What they have done is to set up a task force on implementation and of course they also said as part of the strategy to benefit from the wealth and development and growth in Asia, that they want to increase their diplomatic presence in those Asian countries. I think there are a lot of lessons to learn from these in terms of meeting our development aspirations and goals.
In view of the challenges we are facing back home, how is Australia seeing Nigeria? Or what is the perception of the outsiders as to what is happening back at home?
First let me take it from the perspective that Australia itself is said to have suffered from the tyranny of long distance. Australia is not your next door neighbour. By the time you travel 23 hours, it takes you about a week to get your body clock back in proper position. So, now it is taking advantage of what is referred to as the proximity of adjacency in the sense that it is next door to a very rich and emerging power, the Asian countries. But apart from that too also, Australia also has recognized that Africa is a very important continent and when it was about to start its campaign to go into the Security Council, they embarked on a new policy initiative. It has a paradigm shift in terms of their foreign policy initiative.
So, they came up with the Australia-Africa initiative. What that simply meant was getting closer to Africa and that 53 African countries cannot be ignored, because Africa also is the last frontier as far as natural resources are concerned. So, they now decided to look west rather than just look east. So, the Australia-Africa initiative was a foreign policy initiative in which Australia had decided to get closer to African and African countries and engage them. And of course, within the scheme of that, Nigeria occupies a very important post, that in context of the success of Australia–Africa initiative, it is also contingent on the success of the level of ties, success of Australia’s diplomatic relations in terms of ties with Nigeria. So that is why Nigeria is very prominent and they have taken it at a very serious matter. If you look at what I said earlier, the official visit of Mr. President here in which he was feted by the Governor General, by the Prime Minister, all the states of Australia, I mean the major states of Australia, the business sector, all held a reception for Mr. President as well as the Nigerian delegation. And during the Commonwealth Business Forum which is a very important part of the CHOGHOM, the Nigerian delegation was the largest and we made our presence felt and the Australians were very happy with it and they were responding to that in terms of number of visits and collaboration at all levels.
So I must say that the ties are at a very high level, but beyond that, it is clear that Nigeria is a very strategic partner as far as Australia is concerned in terms of its context as far as the African continent as a whole and its foreign policy itself is concerned. Australia is now a permanent member of the Security Council. In January, it started a two-year tenure and I know that they had worked closely with us. They hold us in very high esteem.
And what about your own role as a writer?
Like I said in one of my articles, one of the things I do these days is a public diplomacy in terms of reaching out to the media. I want to thank the members of the Nigerian media for what they have done in recent times in terms of the attention which they have given the mission. I have said, Australia so far, yet so near. This is how I can summarize the ties between our two countries and I’m indeed very happy that we are at a bilateral level of mutually satisfactory ties between two people. Members of the Nigerian media have very important roles to play in this context and especially also generally in terms of projecting Nigerian foreign policy generally. We have a very competent person in terms of our foreign minister, the two ministers as well as the permanent secretaries and all others in the ministry, that indeed Nigerian foreign policy has a very important role to play in terms of meeting Nigerian developmental aspirations. I am happy that a lot of that has been confirmed from the perspective of the increasing attention to economic diplomacy and members of the media of course have a very important role to play in putting this out there to the public.
Do you think the media is doing what they should, working the way they should to really promote these efforts?
Well, they can do better
I am asking because you were once in charge of the media in the ministry
Yes, I was once the ministry’s spokesperson and Director of Public Communication.
Are you satisfied with media performance?
You cannot really be. There will always be room for improvement and that is why I am saying I will really appeal to members of the Nigeria media to please kindly help in terms of supporting, giving more attention to Nigeria foreign policy and also the foreign policy establishment in terms of the ministry of the foreign affairs as well as the good works the Nigerian diplomatic missions around the world are doing.
But is the ministry still collaborating well with the media?
The ministry has a public communication division which works closely with the journalists. I think what needs to be done is closer collaborations between the public communications divisions of the ministry as well as the journalists as well as the respective media houses.
