His Excellency Hon. Faruk Malami Yabo (MFR) is the current Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Jordan. In this interview with CAPITAL POST’s Mark Moses at the Nigerian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, during the 2020 Christian Pilgrimage, he said President Muhammadu Buhari administration is strengthening Nigeria’s bilateral relations with Jordan in the area of Agriculture and Tourism amongst others.
The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is considering and focusing on agriculture and tourism to make it an option from the oil dependency of the Nigeria’s, economy. How will Nigeria’s bilateral relation with the Kingdom of Jordan achieve this desired result?
Well, thank you very much for visiting the Embassy of Federal Republic of Nigeria in Jordan. I want to seize this opportunity to welcome all of you including all the Pilgrims and the officials to Amman, Jordan.
Like I have said, we are very excited to achieve this milestone which I always said is a good business given for Nigeria and equally a good business given for Jordan. I think what President Muhammadu Buhari is set out to do since his election in 2015 is to make sure that Nigeria is once again agriculturally dependent with food security. And it is also a vision that all the leaders of Africa have signed up to because, African is a continent that has abundant resources. We have huge amount of rainfall everywhere, from South Africa to Burkina Faso. But when you look at the challenges Jordan is facing, record have confirmed that Jordan is the poorest in terms of water resources in the world. So that is why they have learned how to optimize the little rainfall that they have recorded in this country. They have established so many channels of reserving and they also have ensured that water is dispensed to plants as they are required and not only the traditional way we do in Africa where rain will just fall. But sometimes, you just use a bucket because you have plenty of water, and I always know that necessity leads to invention.
So, they are doing very well in terms of agriculture. Of course the mountain side of the country is naturally endowed; they grow Apple, they grow maize and they grow all sorts of things. But on the lower part of the country, they are like Israel, have mechanized form of agriculture which have increased their outputs.
So in Nigeria, the President and his administration and equally the Central Bank and Federal Ministry of Agriculture collectively have been introducing policies that would lead and create food security. Because once you don’t have food security the country will never be stable. And we have seen so much resource, and one of the spectacular policies and decisions that were taking is to ban the importation of rice. They were a lot of outcry but that policy has been sustained.
You can now see that Nigerians’ have now choices when they go to restaurants and choose different varieties of made in Nigeria rice. I know the collaboration between States like; Kebbi and Lagos and so many states are doing it from Abakaliki rice and so many coming from Jigawa, Sokoto. So, it is a major market milestone and I think we can do better with the amount of water resources.
So Jordan has a lot to offer in terms of how country that has poor water resources can transform its agricultural development policy to a huge fortune. And by the grace of God we are inviting stakeholders in Nigeria from the sector to come and explore what Jordan has to offer by using technology as a major component and which is also why we need to do that.
And we have to also understand that in Nigeria traditionally, farms are usually owned by the locals unlike what we have in Zimbabwe and Southern African parts. You will have mechanization but at the end of the day once there is inequity, there will be imbalance in the way these resources are distributed and it will not be sustainable. You know just like the Zimbabwe situation.
So, in Nigeria, the local farmers are still the sole owners of their own farms but the only impediment they are having is that they are not deploying the modern technology. With modern technology you cannot only double the output but you can have so many rotations. I am sure today on your way to Madaba you saw a lot of control farming which Jordan is doing and when you go to the other side of Israel is the same thing. You know and they are known for this. And I think that is something that Nigeria should collaborate with Jordan in that aspect.
The theme for 2020 Christian Pilgrimage to Jordan is “Peace and Development”, while we have a lot of challenges in Nigeria; however Jordan is a peaceful country. What is the embassy doing to replicate what is happening in Jordan in Nigeria?
Okay, I think, of course the Embassy is sending reports to the mother Ministry stressing the functional model Jordan is enjoying. But one other element is citizens’ diplomacy. Citizens’ diplomacy is when you have people coming either for religious, education or tourism expedition. They are equally Ambassadors of the country. So from our records total number of Nigerians in Jordan is not more than two hundred and fifty (250). Substantial part of them are students, some of them are working with the international organizations like UN at the highest level. And then we have few people who are investors.
But, when you have six hundred (600) people from Nigeria coming to Jordan and which will be potentially a thousand six hundred and seventy (1,670) that element of citizens diplomacy will create some sense of interface between what Jordan has and what Nigeria have. I know that NCPC face a lot of challenges, for instance in the course of convincing people to come to Jordan for pilgrimage this year. Also when I was posted to Jordan, many thought that I was coming to meet a country that is disturbed but to my surprise they are doing credibly well. Another thing about Jordan is creating middle class society. When you look at Amman as a city you can see that you don’t find slumped or segregated areas belonging to very rich or very poor persons. They are somehow living equally. So by the time nation achieve that kind of progression in terms of human progression and mobility definitely peace and stability will be achieved.
The king was one hundred and ten years when I came in and he was a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad. He is 44 in the lineage which shows that even the religious of Islam preaches tolerance, and the king of Jordan has often said that the religion at some point used to be hijacked by extremists who do not belong to the religion. So they enjoyed credible support, and by the time a leader is respected and followed when they are doing the right thing, that encourages them to continue doing more. But in the case of Nigeria we have democracy, we have stiff opposition and sometimes no matter good the other party is doing, the opposition party would want to fault it. And these sometimes are at the detriment of our unity and unity, at expense of our development. So this is the mindset that our democracy should lead beyond. When it comes to the issues of national development and the unity of Nigeria, partisanship should not be put at the forefront!
Your Excellency, you have said so much on agriculture, I recall when you address the first batch of Christians on Pilgrimage to Jordan; you also talked about bilateral relationship in the area of counter terrorism. What do you think is the yielding fruit given birth to the situation in Nigeria?
Perhaps you all know what the Government of President Mohammadu Buhari meet in 2015. In 2014 Nigeria was in the verge of serious invasion by terrorists, you know every city was vulnerable from Lagos to Abuja. But the commitment he came with, the administration was able to liberate a lot of Local Government that were under siege and at least he has redeemed that part of the pledged.
Now, the second aspect is the fall of Lybia. We used to commend Niger and Mali that were more effective in terms of security simply because in the security threat then it was not as overwhelming as it is today. So the fall of Lybia created lot of horrors in question into some of these major problems in West African countries. Mali and Niger that you can travel to any time were facing the same thing. So when you look at the insecurity that we’re facing in Nigeria is not a home-grown insecurity. And going to the other side of Bandits you know and others, a sophisticated sets that penetrated not just the Western countries and this particular region but they have felt that with instability here they can now establish the base in West Africa, which, I think in case of King Abbu Dallah he launched a process called the” Acaban process” for Africa. And he also launched the Acaban process for East Asia like Indenosia, who were having the same issues before it started going to West Africa.
So, he has a global initiative for the promotion of peace. So, is not just particular to Nigeria and even the Southern African countries and Central African countries have also signed them and took part in this initiative. And these are the ways of getting equipment that can be used by Government and join forces to fight terrorism, and the President signed into the Acaban process as far back as 2017. And we have been getting a lot of support in terms of intelligence gathering, and they have some equipment deployed to Nigeria and some will still go. That is on aspect of combating terrorism which is a global issue. Then, we have also domestic crime; like the Bandits and a lot of this thing. When you have technology, technology brings a lot of development but it comes with its own effect. Before the advent of GSM, a kidnapper would not be able to have access to the phone line to tell other people that this car has fuel in A and expect them to arrive and said these are the people that are inside.
Then too Nigeria has done very well in terms of introducing the cashless system of banking. In the past, normally the robbery we witnessed is on market days, robbers would be moving round because they know Nigerians are carrying cash. So they usually stop and robbed people and collect money. But these days, everybody have sudden unprecedented migration system from cash to a cashless system.
So, when armed robbers or Bandits stop to rob they will find out that everybody is having ATM cards, so they have to invent other ways. And the new ways they are now using is to kidnap people having realized that is even more lucrative, because normally if they are charging people from the previous arrangement they will be getting N10,000, N5,000 and that is the much they can get. But now when they pick and make people collateral to their demands you know families normally would be very anxious even when Government is telling them don’t just react, nobody would want their loved ones to be kept there indefinitely. So ransom has now become the order of the day.
And again when you are dealing with hostages, it is a very serious situation because for you to go and attack the criminals, you have to sacrifice everybody that is there and then it becomes a futile operation. So, that is also the difference. But if you’re chasing armed robbers who have just stopped a car and collected everything, you follow and shoot them and even you know that you are following criminals. But in the case of holding people as hostages for ransom, when you go and decimate the camp of criminals, you’re certainly eliminating the people who are also as a government you’re supposed to rescue.
Any time you have new wave of criminality, technology driving you have to search for it, you have to analyze it and find out how you can get to the bottom of it. But to be honest when you have everybody turning out to be a criminal because collecting ransom is the new order, this is an unconventional crime which I am sure Nigerian security agencies are doing their best as should and so should be remembered always in our prayers. With our cooperation and understanding, we should be able to surmount this. The only prayer is that the government should use superior technology to overcome them.
Your Excellency Sir, have you dream of how Nigeria economy can move forward and how far does it take us?
Well, in putting things together you have to remove pessimism the way we think. Nigeria is a great nation, we are highly respected everywhere. And one of the biggest qualities of Nigeria is our educational system. We are producing leaders for the world. We now have Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, the Director General of world trade organization (WTO), we have Amina Mohammed the deputy Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), we have Dr. Akinwumi Adesina heading the African Development Bank (AFDB), and we have HE. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, the Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
If the quality of Nigerians and what they represent is not good then, they would not have been given the opportunity to lead these global organizations. So by all standards we have a great country, the richest economy in the continent.
Under the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari Nigeria is confirmed to be the richest economy. But our population is huge, and once you have a huge population you have to do other things to make sure that everybody is touched. And then another problem we have is the Nigeria’s Oil resources and funds coming from it are sufficient enough to take care of the demands of Nigerians. But, by the time you do a simple arithmetic of let say two million barrels a day with perhaps 40% going to the joint venture, probably in Nigeria is not likely going to have more than a Dollar or 50% of all of this per day.
So when you multiply 50% three hundred and sixty five days, that is to say it is hardly for every Nigerian to get one Dollar per day. But our perception is that every Nigerian should get this funds which are equitable, yes in Saudi or in Qatar I think they don’t have over population like Nigeria. Qatar a country where they produce even five million barrels a day, and own the oil producing infrastructure of hundred percent (100%), it is possible to achieve that. When you do the arithmetic you see that these people have almost a hundred thousand which is not only for purchasing power but per capita. But in Nigeria, still, when you look at our GDP of 445 billion dollars and our population was still around 2,200 to 2, 300 dollars per capita. Where is it coming from? Certainly not from oil proceed. That means our agriculture still represents 50% of our economy. We are doing extremely very well in terms of manufacturing. We have decent and modern banking system, and our telecommunication, so we just need some sorts of organization and to achieve some sorts of organization and partnership that we have to suspend and later we have to compare ourselves, build our system so that nobody can circumvent the system.
I think the most important foundation that the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari has done is for the first time the whole world have acknowledged that this is a leader that has impeccable integrity. You cannot link him to any corruption. And to cleanse your system you have to start from that point then every other thing would fall in place. So, we have a president who is not doing everything for personal gain, and everybody can attest to that and that is the most important choice that Nigerians have made. Then the rest is politics and our collective resolved should address that.
Sir, another area we look at is very key in Jordan is tourism. How do you think Nigeria can key into it?
It is something very exciting because when you look at Jordan every Western chain is here. You can see McDonald’s, you can see every where Tabor that you cannot imagine seeing. So they have been able to convince international investors with that mantra of peace and development that they enjoyed in the region. So, by the time you have those businesses coming up it creates huge employment opportunities for the young people. By these they can even sponsor themselves to any level of education. The tourism sector in Jordan is something we should under study very well. And if we can apply some of the models which they use, I believe it can create a lot of employment opportunities for our young people.
And another aspect is to be able to link education with the existing gap of unemployment in Nigeria. We have to figure out that it is not just about getting a degree it’s also about what you read. I think those who read professional courses such as Nursing, Engineering, Medicine and Law are better placed to access employment opportunities or be on their own both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
Universities in Nigeria needs to be tasked in making sure that students once they have finished their O’level they should be guided to go for courses that are employable whether in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. This is with a view to making them marketable and profitable.
For instance, when you look at Kenyans, Ethiopians most of them are studying tourism and aviation management with a lot of gold opportunities from their own countries.
When you get to Emirates you will see a lot of Africans, when you go to Dubai still you will see a lot of Kenyans working there. You don’t see Nigerians that much, but only see Nigerians who are attempt to go to Dubai and do business.
But people who are employed, who are bringing a lot of income to their economic sector you know. But Nigerians who have gone there to do business are people who are gotten educated outside, and that is why the remittance line is also very, very important and also very, very critical to our economic development.
Okay we can’t live without asking about the welfare of our brothers and sisters which are about 250 of them probably came to Jordan. How about their welfare?
Well, like I said earlier, when I came here I roll down a very comprehensive strategy and make with the Nigerians living here in Jordan to one will be able to get entering leadership by Pastor Sam Okenah, is the current and I today I asked him to join, there is also Pastor Elijah, we have Kabir who is the regional manager by UNICEF, and have also Rita the head of finance for UN and also human resource (HR). We will have so many of them.
So, we invited them and they were been able to come up with their own leadership. Then we meet the same crisis with the students union because we meet them that this one’s are calling themselves “Hausa students, Northern students Association, South west and South East”. So we’re been able to also unite the students umbrella to become one and they have established an interim EXCO that have also included women in that. Also the most important is our collective points for selling Nigeria to Jordan through this application that we have developed and access to it available online.
Nigerians here who are distressed and segregated have access to the mission through any of our distress lines. And on the distress lines we have dedicated people who are always committed. Like I said we don’t have so much counsellorship issues, we have few cases and the embassy has rooted lawyers to make sure that those Nigerians in distress are at least salvaged from the authorities.
Some cases which have shown that our citizens are the ones disobeying the law, we are pleading with the authorities to make sure that we have them and take them back home. And the embassy is also rendering counselor assistance to most of our citizens because in Jordan if you overstay they will just live you, and by the time you are living even if its four, five years you will still pay because every day there is certain amount they charge you once your visa expires and there is no way you can get out of Jordan without going through their airport.
So, in most cases you have Nigerians who are deceived by fellow Nigerians that come to Jordan, just like the physical traffic, would come thinking that they have something for them and at the end of the day they have lost what they have collected from their parents and they cannot go back.
And the third part is even when you are going back you have to pay the penalties. So you cannot just take your bag and live like other countries. Here they won’t harass you on the street, but they know that no matter long it takes you would want to go home and they will calculate it. And the mission has been helping those that genuinely want to go back and those that have been brought here to be exploited.
But like I said here in Jordan were having Holy place as a mission, we have coordinate with the authorities and they are very supportive to us. In fact I met with the Governor of Amman two weeks ago and he confirmed that he does not have any issues with any Nigerian which is quite very commendable on our community and very responsible as well.
