Pakistan, Nigeria relations improving – Envoy says

What can you say were your achievements last year as Nigeria’s ambassador to Pakistan?In 2013, we led the trade delegation for the first time to Nigeria from Pakistan and we visited about seven states. In 2014, we held the first joint ministerial commission between Nigeria and Pakistan which never took place for over 22 years […]

What can you say were your achievements last year as Nigeria’s ambassador to Pakistan?
In 2013, we led the trade delegation for the first time to Nigeria from Pakistan and we visited about seven states. In 2014, we held the first joint ministerial commission between Nigeria and Pakistan which never took place for over 22 years and it led to various areas of cooperation. The commission identified the agricultural sector by looking at the massive transformation and the revolution and also various areas of comparative advantage that Pakistan has interest over in Nigeria. For example, Pakistan has been able to domesticate the production of tractors, farm implements, fertilizers, seedlings, rice processing mills among others which has placed Pakistan as the 4th rice producer in the world. The commission also identified industrial cooperation as another major area we should consider. Pakistan has over 40,000 SMEs and cottage industries and Nigeria is coming up with industrial pacts and there is the need for us to collaborate. Industrially, Pakistan has also been able to domesticate the production of military equipments and hardware. The Nigerian Defense Corporation is battling to produce basic equipments. We also look at people to people contact, culture and tourism because most Nigerians like to travel to Europe, America and other places for their holidays and Pakistan has very beautiful tourist attraction centres. So we encouraged the Pakistanis to come and understand Nigeria and the only way to do that is to interact with its people.
After identifying all these areas, a draft agreement was made and we were lucky that again in June 2014, we are able to bring for the first time the Pakistani president to Nigeria who came with a 64-man trade delegation. We also recorded achievement in the area of military cooperation, hosted the chief of military staff, permanent secretary and an MoU was signed by Pakistan and Nigeria air force for provision of training for maintenance of aircraft.
What was the discussion between both presidents during the visit?
During that visit, major agreements were reached and signed in the areas of industrial cooperation, agriculture, culture and tourism and control of drugs and narcotics. We are happy that there was also agreement in the area of establishment of joint chambers of commerce.
What was your achievement in trade relations in 2014 and projection for the New Year?    
In 2014, we were able to increase the trade volume from $100 million to about $500 million and of course a new target has been set for 2015 by the two presidents that we should achieve $2billion in terms of trade and investment. This year’s target will be to operationalise all the agreements we signed last year because we would like to see massive inflow of investors in the areas of rice processing, establishment of an assembly plant for tractors and farm implements by the Pakistanis. There is a legal framework already and we would like to see them taking advantage of the automobile industry policy that was put in place by the federal government, establishment of chemical and fertilizer industries in Nigeria, development of small and medium enterprises, cottage industries, resuscitation of our textile industries, participation in the processing of our solid minerals in order to cushion the effect of the fall of oil prices.
In the area of narcotics, we would like to see a drop in the arrest of Nigerians involved in the trafficking of illicit drugs, we would like to see improvement in the area of culture and tourism through cultural exchange between both countries. Also in the area of military cooperation, we want to see improvement. With all these, we want to hit the $2billion target before the end of the year.
Considering the fact that both countries are facing similar terrorism problem, in what ways do you think Pakistan can help Nigeria in the fight against insurgency?      
I think sharing experience, intelligence gathering are some of the basic things Nigeria could benefit from Pakistan because when we look at the history of Pakistan, the country has 39 terrorist groups as a result of the fallout from the Soviet invasion but Pakistan has been able to contained the organizations and reduced them to only five and boxed them to the border regions.
As Nigeria is preparing for the general elections, is there anything Pakistan is doing to assist in the process?
At the moment we have officers who are undergoing training in Pakistan and we believe they are going to bring whatever knowledge they acquire to bear on the election. And as you know, Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth and member countries are going to be part of observers to Nigeria during the elections. We strongly believed that Pakistan would participate as one of the observers in the coming elections to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
As a diplomat, how can you describe Nigeria’s abstention recently at the UN Security Council over a resolution concerning the state of Palestine?   
Nigeria did not vote against Palestine because we have been consistent in supporting Palestine since the 80s up till the present time. I think possibly what informed the decision was guided by the foreign affairs ministry because the ministry is in a better position to advice the government based on the dynamics of diplomacy. Therefore, I don’t think that would in any way hamper the relationship between the two countries. So, we look to greater and stronger diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and Palestine as we look into the future with great optimism for resolving the Palestine issues.
How many Nigerians do we have in Pakistan, how are they faring, are there any of them in prison and for what offence?       
We have about 700 Nigerians living in Pakistan among which some are married to Pakistanis; some have stayed there for over 20 years. What we did was try and work closely with the leadership of the Nigerian community there; we monitor their activities and constantly admonish them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, to abide by the laws of the host country. When I arrived Pakistan, there were about 40 Nigerians in prison and we were able to get legal representation for these Nigerians and those who were awaiting trial for too long, justice was done and they were released. So we were left with only five people but unfortunately, over the last few months, 20 Nigerians were arrested and detained for various offenses relating to drugs and we have been able to get them legal representation to ensure that their fundamental rights are preserved and protected. We have also been working hand in hand with those who are carrying out their legitimate jobs. We bring them out and integrate them with the community and stand as their guarantor while they also serve as link between industries here and there counterparts in Nigeria.