Salama: Nigeria-Egypt Diplomatic Relations Cordial
Egypt’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ashraf Salama, in this interview with Jaiyeola Andrews, speaks on his country’s diplomatic and bilateral relations with Nigeria, security, economic importance of Suez Canal, among other issues of interest. Excerpts
How would describe the present bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Egypt?
Egypt and Nigeria have long historical relationship that dates back to the time of independence and there have been so many Nigerians who have studied and resided in Egypt and even married Egyptians and came back to Nigeria..
Egyptian revolution almost led to our suspension from the African Union, but Nigeria stood strongly behind us and supported out country to come back to the African Union. We really cherish our relationship with Nigeria and the Nigerian people. Of course, this is on the main level of relations. Politically, we also have so many common stands in international relations, because we support each other in terms of candidates in the United Nations and many other institutions of the UN.
We have a lot of consultation in many fields of interests, of course we are hoping for the reconvening of the bi-national commission for political consultations by the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, but we are hoping to hold the bi-national Commission and to concentrate on vital issues. Not so many issues usually happen within that context really, but there are some specific fields of interests for both sides in which both can complement each other.
On the economic level, what is announced publicly is not what usually transpired. For example, there have been so much talk about a hundred and fifty-two or a hundred million dollars trade between both countries. Of course, there are so many that are not announced and not recorded, but we really need to revitalise the exchange of trade between the two countries.
On the field of co-operation, what we are hoping to have is in the health sector - this is because of the fact that it seems health in Nigeria has been completely abandoned by a lot of factors. There are so many people who suffer from diseases and symptoms; hence dying from simple symptoms. That is why Egypt is one of the main destinations for medical tourism for most Nigerians.
You said there is a cordial relation between Nigeria and Egypt. In what way can we further strengthen this?
It can be further strengthened by introducing the two countries to each other and the people to each other. The role of the media is very important in introducing people to each other and the capacities and the potentials of each country to each other because nobody knows so much about Egypt except on certain issues and nobody knows about Nigeria except what we see in the news. We really need to join efforts, maybe through political framework or a diplomatic platforms thus creating an atmosphere where people can have a lot of trust for each other. This is because instead of going outside the continent, we can work out things within the continent and get whatever we are in need of.
This cooperation is very vital in our relations as both countries can offer a lot because we have the expertise in many fields including health, agriculture, education and tourism.
Egypt and Nigeria are rich in terms of tourism potentials - beautiful mountains, springs, oceans - but this has not been properly harnessed probably due to the discovery of oil; the situation which must be dealt with first. In the long run tourism can be very beneficial, because it will help the whole world to know the real Nigeria and Nigerians.
Are you comfortable with the volume of investment between both countries?
No! I am not, but I am hoping, because for the past three years that I have been here, I have been trying to encouraging both sides to come and invest that is why they need to be introduced to each other more and more to know the market more and more. That is why there is strong tendency for a lot of Egyptians firms right now expressing their willingness to come and invest and even present their products in Nigeria. Egypt has a lot of heavy and light industries, we have a lot to offer in terms of training and everything that Nigeria will need and Nigeria has the potentials to buy these things.
This can always be done with Egypt. You start for example, pharmaceuticals. A lot of Nigerians buy pharmaceuticals legally from Egypt, because there are quality drugs in Egypt and at a very reasonable price.
Phamaceutical products made in Egypt are always of good quality and they can be made available in Nigeria introducing them here more. Secondly, we can deal with the pharmaceutical factories for manufacturing these drugs to come to Nigeria, have their factories here and that would be a kind of agreement between the two countries and making such a reality.
In what way do you think both countries can collaborate in security matters?
That is one of the major pivot of cooperation that we need because both countries represent a strategic bloc oin the continent. Geographically, Egypt and Nigeria are very close hence what happens here may have repercussions in Egypt too.
Egypt, by many standards, is considered the most stable country this region. In spite of insurgency and militancy, we have been trying stop all these from our own borders hence developing economically.
So there have been a lot of challenge to balance the two: fighting terrorism and improving economically at the same time. It has been a big and great challenge.
Take the new passage of the Suez Canal that had been dug and opened in one year for example. This is considered as one of the miracles that can never happen because it takes at least three to five years to be finished, we had in one year to show the world that we are able and capable of developing.
We had the international conference for the development of the economy of Egypt; and we have been having many of them with many institution showing support.
As for security, Nigeria is also facing some challenges from the border as well and in some parts of the country. Of course, coordination in security matters are of vital importance - they will always add to the peace and security of the country, they will never take off it, they will always add. Egypt has a strong and a long experience in these matters of combating terrorism and we have strong institutions about this issue. We also provide a lot of training courses for the Nigerian professionals in VIP protection, anti-terrorism and a lot of things. A lot of training are being asked from a lot of big institutions here to help and we are offering that really with good heart and every training courses that we do we include Nigeria and I think this is a very good step to cooperate.
In education don’t you think Egypt and Nigeria should form a common platform in exchange of students?
The Nigerian curriculum is different from the Egyptian curriculum. They are not the same and so you can’t exchange students you have to take a certain level of exams to be admitted in Egypt, but I think there are so many Nigerians that are in private universities in Egypt and a lot of families moved to Egypt and are studying their now. But let me make something very clear: Egypt is a secular state and not an Islamic. Egypt, like Nigeria, has Christians and Muslims. So many look at Egypt, especially the Christians in Nigeria here, as a Muslim country. From the old times they think it is an Islamic country but Egypt is a secular country. The voyage of Jesus Christ to Egypt from Israel was a strong message, we have all this and we want to include it in Christian pilgrimage.
We do have the biggest and the most modest Islamic institution which is Al-Asar University. There are so many Muslim Nigerians who are really intellectual here and very moderate. They have been graduated from Al-Asar and the university today has a very big message to deliver to spread the tolerance and the right understanding of religion. Religion explains itself, because it is something spiritual and divine. This is also very important to educate, because you have a big number of Muslim Nigerians here especially in the north who can be educated.
We do have preachers that come and they are paid from Al-Asar, but you know with the numbers of population of Nigeria, they are not enough - they are about forty people divided in various institutions, but they are doing good actually in providing tolerant understanding of religion.
Egypt is a leading country in iron and steel production, how do you think it can tap in the production of iron and steel in Nigeria?
This depends on how the two countries have a deal in this matter. If Nigeria is interested in the iron and steel industry and they want to establish an industry, Egypt will welcome such and show it’s experience about it. When Egypt wanted to change from agricultural producing country to an industrial country, one of the aspects that we focused on was the iron and steel sector. Similarly, iron and steel can be adopted by the government or by the big businesses here.
But before that, of course, you need to have a very good and close look about the infrastructural base of the country. First electricity has to improve. Nigeria has lot of dams, you can use a lot of irrigation engineers from Egypt, we can help you build dams and generate electricity in order to maintain sufficiency in electricity. When you have these, you can have the factories. You used to have a lot of factories in Kano, Kaduna and many other places, but all these factories have closed down because generating electricity is costly so we have to tackle these things first.
How much do you think Egyptian investors are willing to invest in Nigeria?
Well it depends on how the investment in Nigeria will be presented, because you see, here, there is a problem of communication and lack of knowledge of each other’s markets as I said before, so no investor could come to a place he doesn’t know much about, especially the media always amplify every little issue which should not be amplified. There are so many things happening in the world, in the most and biggest economies in the world and nobody know anything about it, because it is always put aside and show the good things.
In Nigeria unfortunately, there are so many people who do not want the country rise up or to show it’s good image and they insist of showing the bad side of every little thing that happen and this drives people away. This does not encourage investment, hence the relevance of the media.
In what ways do you think the President of Egypt and that of Nigeria can work closely together?
I was one of the first envoys that congratulated President Buhari on his election. Also President Sisi was very much interested in promoting the relation with Nigeria and also they had a phone call before the inauguration and there was an official invitation to come and visit Egypt and even when I was congratulating President Buhari on independence day, he told me he sat close to my President and that is a very positive action so I think that is the way for both leaders to promote this relation further.
What should Nigerians expect from you as the ambassador of Egypt?
Our main mission or job is to come here and improve relations between the two countries. This is the main job but some many people do not understand. Another important issue is that an ambassador is the envoy of his president to a country.
Through improved relations, he finds new horizons of cooperation and whatever he finds of negative points he does not have to send back directly because the small negatives points would be amplified back home. You have to keep aside and give the good points.
You also have to censor the bad things that are happening here and throw up the opportunities that are here. This improves the image of the country and it encourages both countries to come close to each other.
What is the economic benefit of Suez Canal to Africa and the world at large?
The Suez Canal was built in 1856 by France and there have been a lot of interest by the colonial powers at the time, because the essence of the Suez Canal is to go around the African continent towards India. So the colonies for Britain and France at the time in Asia and whatever they do used to take a long time. With the Suez Canal, you can take a short cut, so it is very vital in international maritime, because most of the products and the economy of the world depend on maritime vessels.
The actual Suez Canal passage has one phase so that the vessel that is driving goes in one direction and the other vessel has to wait until one moves out so there was a lot of delay happening. It was also costly for Egypt as well to have this issue. Now you have two passages while one is moving in one direction, the other will be moving in the other direction. So it is facilitating for every body for Africa, for the world, for Egypt having better revenue because Suez Canal is one of the main sources of revenue for Egypt. We have oil, Suez Canal, we have tourism and we have the revenue of Egyptians in the diaspora. These are the four main sources of revenue for Egypt.