Nigeria deserves better reputation – Israeli ambassador

Just about nine months in Nigeria, what is your impression about the country so far?I fell in love with Nigeria, It is really a great country and I enjoyed every minute in Nigeria. I must tell you it is a challenging country; it is a fascinating country.Recently, Israel and Nigeria signed a Bilateral Air Services […]

Just about nine months in Nigeria, what is your impression about the country so far?
I fell in love with Nigeria, It is really a great country and I enjoyed every minute in Nigeria. I must tell you it is a challenging country; it is a fascinating country.
Recently, Israel and Nigeria signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). What would be the overall benefit of this pact?
This was one of the great achievements of the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan in Israel recently. Infact, I was honoured and privileged to join the President in the visit, which was the first of such of the President in Nigeria to Israel. We are privileged to attend the meeting with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence minister of Israel, General Moshe Ya’alon and while in Israel, both countries signed the BASA agreement and this will, first and foremost, shorten the time of the flight. Right now, anyone going to Israel had to go either through Addis Ababa, Turkey or Europe among others.
So it is almost double the time. You have to go six hours to Paris or Frankfort or London and then you have to go five hours Israel and have to wait for the transit which will take another three or four hours. So, it would take you a full day and you even have to sleep over. It takes a lot of time. By the time you go straight, it takes you only six hours. It is unbelievable, so this will be a heaven to fly directly. Once it is implemented, it will change the whole atmosphere of aviation between Israel and Nigeria. It will positively affect the pilgrimage to Israel which is the intention of President Jonathan. You know President Jonathan flagged-off the start of this year’s exercise with 30, 000 pilgrims and by next week, we shall conclude this session for 2013. This year, the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, reached a major landmark of 30, 000 pilgrims to Israel. May be next year, it would get to 35, 000 pilgrims. This figure is unbelievable. First and foremost, it would affect the pilgrimage. One can now fly six instead of 24 hours. This will affect our relationships very well. Also, there will be tourists coming in apart from pilgrims and also there will be commercial flights. So it will have a major economic effect on both sides.
Apart from the BASA, what other relationship is Israel having with Nigeria?
There are a lot of commercial, agricultural, economic bilateral relations and many investments between the two countries. There are indeed, a lot of things happening between both countries. And I must tell you that this historic visit of President Jonathan really uplifted the relations and I am not exaggerating, people keep calling me daily trying to find out many things and wherever I am going, I hear the result of the visit. The economic effect is already enormous. Would-be investors are calling to make inquires.
Which areas of relations would you want to improve upon between Israel and Nigeria which are still lacking behind?
I won’t say any area is lacking. I am sure many Israeli ambassadors are envious of me. But ofcourse, there are areas where things can be improved and I would like to see more Nigeria investment in Israel, I would like to see more Nigerians companies coming to see Israel. I would like to see more tourists; I would like to see more Israelis in Nigeria. I think the world should know about Nigeria. I think Nigeria deserves a better reputation. You all know how great you are. So, you [Nigeria] deserve to be known as a continent. Nigeria is a giant, so there are a lot to be achieved. No doubt, there are a lot to be done between both countries.
What can Nigeria emulate from Israel in terms of good governance and development?
In Israel, have a lot of development within the peace process with the Palestinians. Actually US Secretary of State, John Kerry just visited Israel. We signed a peace treaty with Egypt and also with Jordan. In October, 1994, I was privileged to be the coordinator of the peace talks between Israel and Jordan and it changed the strategic method of the Middle East. Israel and Egypt have been involved in five wars between 1948 and 1979 and now we are more than thirty years in peace. I can tell you that I am not only ambassador to Nigeria but also permanent representative to ECOWAS, which is not only an economic organisation but also a political one. While presenting my credentials, I told the President of ECOWAS, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo that Israel can share our experience in conflict resolution. So, with the President of ECOWAS, we had a long of conversation of how both Israel and ECOWAS Commission can do some things together and no doubt Nigeria will play a major role in this sharing of knowledge.
What new challenges have you faced in Nigeria so far?
There so many challenges for an ambassador to do in Nigeria. Whenever I wake up, I say I wish I would have more hours in a day, because there so many things I would love to do.