Nigeria not partnering Israel enough on security – Envoy

Paul Hirschson is an Israeli diplomat who recently served as an Acting Ambassador of his country to Nigeria before the current one arrived. He had spent roughly a decade in business development before joining his country’s Foreign Ministry, and had started his business career developing relations with Israeli companies in the Arab world. Having joined […]

Paul Hirschson is an Israeli diplomat who recently served as an Acting Ambassador of his country to Nigeria before the current one arrived. He had spent roughly a decade in business development before joining his country’s Foreign Ministry, and had started his business career developing relations with Israeli companies in the Arab world. Having joined Israel’s Foreign Ministry 15 years ago, he also spent a few years in the Spokespersons Bureau, and requested a posting to Dakar, Senegal in 2015, where served until 2018. After he went back to Israel in August last year, he had barely settled down for some months before he was assigned to Nigeria, to hold fort after the previous ambassador left in September. Just before returning to his country, he spoke to Daily Trust Saturday, and herewith are excerpts:

Daily Trust: What really kicked off the diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and Israel?

Paul Hirschson: There’s a certain element in the relationship between Israel and Nigeria that I’m not an expert on. But I’ll take it one step back before that, and I’ll say this – Israel got independence the third time. The first time was 2,500 years ago, and the second time was 2,000 and a half years ago. But the third time, in modern days, was in 1948 which is only roughly a decade before most African states started the process of decolonization and independence. In the late 1950s, our then foreign minister, later prime minister, Golda Meir visited Africa twice, to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria, before many of them gained independence. And she went back, and started sending Israeli diplomats out to African countries.

The first Israeli diplomat to Senegal was appointed in 1959 and they got independence in 1960. We got into a little trouble with the French because they weren’t so happy that we were sending diplomats to their colonies, and not to them. As a result, we were the fourth country in the world to establish relations with Senegal because we were already there. It was same for Nigeria, and many other places at the time.

Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, the centre of gravity of sub-Saharan Africa, the most significant player in ECOWAS, and depending on who you ask, the most significant player in Africa. So there’s no question that we’d have an embassy and relations with Nigeria. Where we want to go, are two main areas. Primary, I believe, is economic relations. Business, when done correctly, sees both side winning. And that’s a great place to have a foundation of a relationship, one where both sides win.

It’s clear that areas where we have experience and technology and know-how which is appropriate to Nigeria, is agriculture and water technology. We have other competencies, but these are two that are particularly pertinent to the experience in Nigeria.

The issues of water in Africa are so dramatic. In Israel, we recycle almost 80% of our waste water, so we’re number one in the world. On the other side, is water creation, as over 40% of our water is generated by desalination. So we’re recycling, and creating water. And drip irrigation reduces water usage by about 80%. We’re water-sufficient, which is the world’s next strategic resource. It was oil for the last 15 years, and it will be water in the next 15.

Also noteworthy in terms of our relationship, is the question of regional stability. We live in an interconnected world today, so if you have instability here, it’s like when you throw a stone in the water and ripples go out.

DT: Speaking about stability, what’s the level of engagement between Israel and Nigeria where it comes to partnering on security issues?

Hirschson: Not enough. We are happy to engage, and we have in the past. We have knowledge, experience, and the technology. We’ve said it publicly that we’re willing and we’re interested in cooperating everywhere in Africa and beyond to address the subject. And don’t forget, we also have conflicts between ourselves and the Palestinians and the Arab world at large, which we’re working as hard as we can to resolve.

DT: You’re aware of the stand of the United States when it comes to selling weapons or tech to Nigeria to fight insurgency. Would that stand affect Israel’s?

Hirschson: It doesn’t. By the way, I don’t know the details of that American policy. I would have to check it up. We also have our own licensing processes, and there are a number of requirements we’ve got. There are some things we will sell to some countries, and there are some we won’t sell to others. Like when you sell some stuff to some country, and may have a revolution or suddenly have a dictatorship or military rule and decide all of a sudden you’re not going to sell it to that country. So it’s a dynamic thing that goes on.

But I will have to give you an honest answer of a specific technology. There are countries I am guessing we won’t sell anything to like Iran because its defined as an enemy state and they don’t even ask because the answer’s going to be no.

But in terms in Nigeria, we have excellent diplomatic relations, and an embassy here while you have an embassy in Israel, plus our economic relations.

Obviously there won’t be such consideration when you’re talking about technology that has to do with for instance, water technology and agricultural technology. There are Israelis running farms in Nigeria and using Israeli technology.

DT: What’s the media sector like over there in Israel?

Hirschson: There is still state-owned media, but very little. I think there may be one TV channel which is government-owned, a couple of radio stations as well, but it’s almost completely private. The media in Israel is vivacious, very active, very invasive but in a positive way. Social media in Israel, like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and blogs, are also free for all. We’re hooked to the news, and listen to the news every hour. It’s very lively.

What I will say is that Israel is similar to other parts of the world where the business module of the media is being dramatically challenged because today, fewer people read newspapers than before because today we have smartphones and we can read online.

DT: What’s your impression about Nigerian politics, and is there any converging point similar to the politics in Israel?

Hirschson: I haven’t been here for long enough, but it’s starting to warm up, and you can feel it. The posters are going up, the adverts are coming out, the conversation is being had, and I get the feeling that there are similarities to Israel in the sense that the public is engaged and following it. I don’t know what happens after the election and whether the day after the election the public moves on since it’s over, or whether they remain caught up in it for another month afterwards. To be fair, I haven’t been here long enough, so it’s a little difficult to say.