‘Why Denmark is the world’s happiest country’
The Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Torben Gettermann, in this interview, talks about what makes Denmark the happiest country in the world, how the country can play its part in Nigeria’s anti-graft war, and what led to the closure of its embassy in Niger
Daily Trust: Can you give us an overview of the bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Denmark?
We have had diplomatic relations with Nigeria since independence in 1960. At a certain time, we shut down our embassy. When I came here in August 2014, we had nothing, no embassy, no staff, no residence. But it all came out of a decision by the Danish government to look for three or four countries where Denmark should be and where we have to be, and that was decided in 2013 and I happened to be in the taskforce that was actually preparing the proposals and Nigeria was clearly one of the countries where we should come back. We try to attract Danish companies to come here to cooperate with Nigerian companies and we have been instrumental in getting companies also to invest in Nigeria because the possibilities are huge.
You have to look clearly at the return on your investment and it comes relatively faster in Nigeria than it does in many other countries, but it is hard-work to get there. The ease of doing business is an indicator and we have seen it improved but there is still a lot to be done in order to make it a completely competitive economy for companies to come and work here. On the political side, Nigeria is a country that you have to look at no matter what when you look at Africa, whether you look at Nigeria as a country in West Africa or on the continent as a whole. Nigeria has potentials but we also see that these potentials can be used even more than it is being used now. We would like to see much more cooperation.
DT: What led to the closure of your mission in Nigeria?
That was because of the political situation in the 1990s. There were human rights issues at that time and also the fact that we would have to move the embassy from Lagos to Abuja. So all factors combined and the government took the decision that we close down.
DT: What can you say about Denmark’s trade relations with Nigeria?
We have had a trade imbalance. We have imported so much from Nigeria than we have exported. The trade volume is small but that has a lot to do with Danish companies not having focus to do much in Nigeria and this is another reason why I am here. We have to sell Denmark to Nigeria by telling the good stories, we have to tell them that it is possible to do it in Nigeria, to invest in Nigeria. Nigeria has a poor image in so many different ways and this is because people focus on the negative sides.
DT: How many Danish companies are currently operating in Nigeria?
There are currently about 30 Danish companies in Nigeria with investments or in cooperation with local companies. We have some major companies too, running some of the terminals in Lagos and we have a relative new comer.
DT: Migration is an issue that seems to be dividing the European Union in recent times. Some European countries are advocating that the EU should set up a migration centre in Africa. What is the position of Denmark on this?
Denmark supports this idea but we need to see how this can work in practice. It is important to have people but with what we have seen in Libya, nobody wants to see these things again. We want this to be orderly and in a dignified manner and not the CNN footage that we have seen, so we need to hammer out what this is going to look like and where. And so far this has not been decided. Europe needs immigration but we need a sort of controlled immigration because there is no point accepting people who would live a life that is below what we consider reasonable. We would rather see people come with skills or acquiring skills that we can use, so that they can have a normal life.
DT: How can Denmark help Nigeria tackle the corruption challenge?
We are actually in different ways helping. It is a very difficult issue to tackle because corruption is part of the everyday life in Nigeria in many different ways. Denmark is one of the least corrupt countries in the world because we hold our politicians, our companies to account. We have a code of conduct for Danish companies. As public servants we have to sign a declaration and we have to go through courses so that we know exactly what corruption means. Now, bringing this to Nigeria, we cannot help you, let’s say in a big way in eradicating corruption. What we can do is to highlight the situation and make sure that people talk about it, that action is taken to an extent possible, go into cooperation with Nigeria on education in terms of understanding how much money corruption actually takes out of the system, money that the people in general could benefit from.
DT: Most of the money stolen from Nigeria is stashed in European countries. Are there measures being put in place to ensure that these monies are not taken to Denmark?
I can say for sure that nothing is in Denmark. Denmark is a country that is so highly controlled where everything is transparent, the tax office has access to all my personal information and it has nothing to do with me being a public servant, they know how much salary you get. We pay up to 55% or a little bit more 57% in taxes in Denmark. It is a lot but we know what our taxes are being spent on and we know what we get, you get subsidized kindergarten, free high school, free university, free healthcare and infrastructure. And if anybody should ask why we are the happiest people in the world, this is actually one of the reasons. This is because we know what our money is spent on, we know we can trust the authority because there is accountability and everything is transparent.
DT: How is Nigeria different from other places that you have served?
Nigeria is the most complex country I have ever served in, you read about it but you won’t understand the country until you get here and you start to get to know people, you travel around, you get Nigeria under your skin because that is when you really get to find out what this country is all about.