Pakistan is food sufficient and produces more wheat than the entire Africa. In this interview with RUTH YAMTA, the Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan in Nigeria, Ahmed Ali Sirohey, shares his country’s successes in agriculture and textile industries and explains how Nigeria can benefit.
I joined Pakistan Foreign Service through a competitive examination and was posted to Baghdad [capital of Iraq] in 2002 and afterwards, I was posted to Jeddah [in Saudi Arabia], Sana’a in Yemen and now Abuja, Nigeria.
How long have you been a high commissioner?
?I have been an acting high commissioner since December 2011.
How are you enjoying your stay in Nigeria?
I am enjoying it very well because people are hospitable and the weather is alright. I enjoy the hospitality of the people. Nigeria is a very green country with great potentials.
Before you came to Nigeria what were your expectations?
Before coming to Nigeria I was thinking it is a very big country with very developed infrastructure. I was at least not expecting power outages.
Your expectations on Nigeria, were they met or dashed?
Most of the expectations were okay. I found that Abuja a modern and planned city which is beyond my expectations. It is a very beautiful city like our own capital, Islamabad.
What is the thrust of Nigeria/Pakistan relationship?
Pakistan is one of the first countries to recognise Nigeria as an independent country and opened its mission in Lagos. Since then we have been supporting each other in international forums like in the United Nations. Pakistan sent instructors and engineers to work for Nigeria for a couple of years. Pakistan also offers scholarships to Nigerian students and is still offering scholarships for the training of Nigerian officers from railway to transport, foreign affairs and other government departments including banking. So we have excellent relationship with Nigeria. We are one of the major partners of Nigeria armed services in training because we are providing training to Nigerian Army, Air Force and Navy. Right now, there are about five thousand Nigerians being trained in Pakistan Military Academies.
During your speech at the Pakistan Independence Day celebration, you mentioned that Pakistan is very willing to help Nigeria tackle terrorism?
Yes of course. We have experienced it since the last three decades. And we have condemned it. We have tackled it. We have experience and that expertise we can share with Nigeria agencies if and when requested.
So you mean Nigeria has not requested for your support to tackle it security problems?
There are negotiations. There are talks between governments and there are visits expected in the coming months of Nigerian officials and Pakistani officials to talk on this issue.
What is the volume of trade between Nigeria and Pakistan?
It is around 80 million dollars in a year. Pakistan imports mostly oil palm, nuts, sisal seeds, hides. It is imbalanced. Sometimes it is LPG [Liquefied Petroleum Gas] or LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas]. It is not a constant trade.
What does Pakistan export from Nigeria?
Pakistan exports are mainly in textiles, leather materials, pharmaceuticals, surgical items, recently some tractors, agricultural equipment, home appliances, automobile parts and beauty products.
Many Nigerians do not actually see Pakistani products in the market, why is Pakistani items not visible in Nigeria?
You are right because there was really no great emphasis in the Nigerian market from Pakistani point of view because Pakistan actually focused on Europe and America. Seventy per cent of exports go to Europe and America. So Africa and especially Nigeria was not the focus of Pakistani exporters. Now, since my coming here, in one and half years, I have seen four Nigerian delegations to Pakistan and similarly invited four Pakistani delegations to Nigeria, from investment point of view, from joint venture point of view, from export and import point of view and bilateral and trade treaties. And hopefully, next month there is an agricultural exhibition in Pakistan taking place in Karachi and many Nigerians are expected to go and attend and to seek partnership with Pakistani companies to work in Nigeria’s fertile land and make it the food basket of Africa. Nigeria is blessed with a very fertile land and good source of water and very good human resource. So Nigeria must be exporting food grains not importing. So Nigeria can learn from Pakistan the mechanization of Agriculture.
What has been Pakistan’s secret in developing its agricultural sector because it is the largest sector of the Pakistani Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? And what can Nigeria learn from Pakistan in this regard?
If you go back to 1947 when Pakistan was born, it was solely dependent on imports to feed its 30 million people. But now, it is surprising that Pakistani population is touching 190 million and it is not only feeding 190 million people but exporting wheat, rice, maize every type of food grains. Pakistan is the second largest exporter of rice and wheat and textiles and every agricultural product. The government of Pakistan devised a plan where it has always subsidized tractors, irrigation systems and agricultural inputs like fertilizer, seeds, and everything and it has supported small farmers to grow their produce and be self-sufficient at least. The Pakistani Central Bank told all banks that one third of all advances should be to agriculture and for six months, there is no interest on these loans. So that revolutionised agriculture in Pakistan. Now if you go to a small town of say 50, 000 people, you will find hundred of tractors in that town. It has given a lot of impetus to the agriculture sector and we produce more wheat than the whole African continent, 24 million tonnes a year we produce. And we have less water than Nigeria and less fertile land than Nigeria. So Nigeria can produce more.
What can Nigeria also learn from Pakistani textile industry?
My friend, the first thing is the provision of electric power because every industry depends on the power sector. Dependable, constant, cost effective power supply is number one. Number two, better quality cotton because we have research institutes, which are doing research without break for many years, to produce better quality cotton for our textile industry. Third is government incentive for textile industry to get land and soft loans. Fourth thing is availability of trained manpower. By these four things, the textile industry can be revived and Pakistan can support Nigeria. There may be joint ventures, partnerships and expertise in training both in cotton seeds research and usage.
?Have you contacted the Nigerian government on this issue of reviving the textile industry?
We have been meeting constantly. Remember Pakistan and Nigeria are members of D-8 and we have been talking on this platform. Bilaterally too, I’ve the Minister of Trade and Investments [Olusegun Aganga] and we talked about these things. Also, we are partnering constantly and hopefully in the future tangible results will come out of these talks.
What benefits are there for members of the D-8?
D-8 nations have a population of nearly one billion people. Each countries has its own advantages, potentials, merits and strengths so when we join hands together like preferential trade agreements and the cooperation in other sectors, it will? mutually benefit the member nations. Right now, the volume of our trade [between Pakistan and Nigeria] is very small. Like I told, the volume of trade between Nigeria and Pakistan is 80 million dollars and this is nothing compared to Nigerian imports of more than 70 billion dollars and Pakistan imports are around 45 billion dollars. So out of 115 billion dollars, you can see that 80 million is nothing, not even up to one per cent. So if we increase it up to 15 per cent, it will benefit both Nigeria and Pakistan. It will also benefit other D-8 countries. Trade is the main thing, it can create jobs and foster economic growth and people to people interaction will bring this trade. That’s what we are doing now.