‘Tunisia is a page in tourism history’

Tunisia started the “Arab Spring” in 2011 before other countries followed. Now what is the latest political development in the country?Tunisia was the first country that started the Arab Spring but one should know why this happened. There were problems in human rights, employment, imbalance in the regions-some regions are developed while others are not. […]

Tunisia started the “Arab Spring” in 2011 before other countries followed. Now what is the latest political development in the country?
Tunisia was the first country that started the Arab Spring but one should know why this happened. There were problems in human rights, employment, imbalance in the regions-some regions are developed while others are not. The Tunisian revolution gave an example to the entire world that if a country wants to make change, it can do it. We should know also that the change was from within and not from the outside. So the revolution was a response to some problems and the Tunisian people succeeded in the revolution and after that we started three years of democratic transition. We wrote our second constitution and it was adopted in March and was considered as one of the most elaborate in the world because there is equality between gender, emancipation of women and universal human rights. It is very open. You don’t have such constitution in any other Arab country. We are proud of this constitution. Tunisia decided to choose this way to engender true democracy. Now the legislative election was fair and transparent according to international and local observers. After the election, the secular party won and in line with the constitution, the winner party has the right to constitute its government. Now, we are waiting which kind of government it would form. This is now the situation.
Now that Tunisia has gone through all the political turmoil, what lesson can Nigeria learn from that experience because our country  will soon go into its elections?
As a diplomat, my reason of being here is to boast the relationship between Nigeria and Tunisia and it is not my duty to interfere in the Nigerian political scene but all what I can say is that Tunisia was like a laboratory for all the world in order to bring and show to all its democratic experience. If you see other countries in the region, that tried to make its revolution, it is not the same result because Tunisia revolution was made in the country and that was why it succeeded.
Now, own a responsibility as Tunisians is to succeed further and show the entire world that democracy can be done in an Islamic African country. The little that Tunisia gives to the entire world, not only to Nigeria is that Tunisians are peaceful people and want to run the government as a people without exclusion for anyone. The success of democratic transition in Tunisia is that all share the same aim, which is the love of the country. If people of a country show patriotism they can face any challenge. The success of a country should be topmost more than a political party. Now, as for Nigeria, is that it can take the good part of what it observes in the Tunisian revolution and democracy.
 What are key areas of Tunisia Nigeria bilateral relations?
There are many opportunities in both countries. There is trade and business in construction, material, spare parts, electricity cable, and pillar cable. However, it is unfortunate that many Nigerian businessmen don’t know much about Tunisia and I am working on that to remove any barrier. If you go to Cameroon or any Franco-phone country you will see our products.
Sixty per cent of their products are from Tunisia but in Nigeria, there is this misunderstanding of the Tunisian opportunity. It is my responsibility now to change the perspective and I am working on it. Now many Nigerian businessmen have gone to Tunisia and by the time they come back they are very surprised. It all depends on us now to improve on the relationship and show what we can do. We can exchange experiences on Medium and Small Enterprises (SMEs) because the economy of Tunisia is based on SMEs and we can partner on this. We can also partner on fighting desertification because I know in the north of Nigeria there is suffering from desertification. We are also working in the area called ‘decentralisation cooperation’, which is, for example, cooperating between cities. It could be the city of Abuja and city of Tunis, Kano and Sfax. It could also be partnership between states.
In what area is the “decentralization cooperation” going to take place?
For example, if you take Abuja and Tunis, there could be agreement and they could share experience on development of tourism, environmental protection, training of security agents, how to develop car parking system, beautification of the city, waste disposal, protection of  monuments, developing city libraries. We should be able to develop all these because it is easy to do. I am planning all these. I have the ideas. I am just one year old here, but I shall surely do them. We are working in cooperation between universities in the exchange of students. We also have scholarships in Islamic science and this is so because of the language barrier. Tunisia operates in French and not many Nigerians can speak French, but Arabic is commonly spoken. However, we also have English and American universities in Tunisia and Nigerians are encouraged to attend and pursue their studies.
Has Tunisia been able to properly harness her tourism sector to the fullest?
Tunisia is like a page of history. In Tunisia people will find all that they want. If you like architecture, monuments, history, you will find the sites there which show you the rich culture and history of Tunisia and you will feel proud as an African. There is the Carthage monument. This place was the capital of Africa. The origin and the name ‘Africa’ is indeed the name of Tunisia in the past. Africa was called ‘Ifriqiya’ and that was the name of Tunisia. So, Tunisia gave her name to the continent. In the ancient times, people say they are going to Ifriqiya and that time Carthage was the capital of the region. So, when you go to Tunisia, you can see the remains of the monuments of Carthage since 3000 years ago. You can feel the spirit of history. The beaches are there, the mountains as well as the Sahara desert. We have all these and people can make their choices. We have tourism infrastructure with high level point of services. Tunisia receives more than 5 to 6 million tourists yearly, more than half of the population. We also have seminar tourism. For example many organisations choose to hold their seminars in Tunisia because of the facilities and this is a good way of encouraging tourism. The delegation after the events comes back with their families. Tourism in Tunisia is a big industry and very strong. There are about 2 million families that earn their livelihood directly from tourism. It is a very serious sector. It is one of the highest contributors to the country’s budget.
 How about the development of the agricultural sector?
In Tunisia, we have a wide range of agricultural development. We don’t only rely on wheat, olive oil and dates. We also have a system of modernization in the country. For example, government gives farmers loans for to boast production.  Also for youth agricultural engineers, the government gives them some plots of land to encourage them to develop their own business. Agriculture is one of the pillars of the economy. For dates, Tunisia is the third exporter in the world.