Speech by HE Opunimi Akinkugbe, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, at the dinner reception to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day.

Your Excellencies

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to this celebration of the 61st Independence Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Thank you all for taking the time to spend this evening with us, in spite of other commitments and naturally, some concerns. We appreciate your understanding of the strict observance of the full vaccination protocols which I know would have excluded some members of your families and friends, missions, and organisations. ?

Given the enormous challenges that the world faces with the ongoing pandemic and the peculiar difficulties that we face as a country, indeed some of the most difficult periods in our nation’s history, we had initially thought that we could not mark the occasion.

But upon reflection, the team and I felt that it is important to celebrate our beloved country, our diversity, our uniqueness, to tell you a bit about us, and most of all, to simply have an opportunity to spend an evening with you.

On the 1st October 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Great Britain. That historical day 61 years ago, was not just a day that the British handed over power to Nigerians, it was also a day where Nigerians of different ethnic groups, religions, languages, cultures, and histories came together as one united entity.

Amid the celebration, it is also a time for sober reflection as we look back on our journey thus far and look forward with much hope to the future. Our challenges at the present time, are immense; they include youth unemployment, insecurity, corruption, division, poverty, and so much more.?

Yet the opportunities still untapped, and the extraordinary possibilities that they present, far outweigh the many challenges, if only as Nigerians and our friends in the international community, we collectively resolve to seize them.

As you may be aware, Nigeria has not had an Ambassador in Greece for over 5 years and my appointment underscores the importance in which our government wishes to advance bilateral relations between Nigeria and Greece.

Ambassador Ioannis Plotas, the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria and I are collaborating closely to deliver on our mandates. We have a very real opportunity to help to facilitate bilateral cooperation in various sectors to see the economic, cultural, and social relations between Greece and Nigeria elevated to the highest levels.

We very much appreciate the Greek and Nigerian companies and individuals that have consistently collaborated with our mission over the years. We thank you for your support and I look forward to visiting you personally in the coming weeks.

As far back as the 1930s, some visionary Greek entrepreneurs saw opportunities in the Nigerian economy and established trading companies in Nigeria. There are at least three that have become household names in Nigeria: A.G.?Leventis?(Nigeria) Plc, which was established?in 1937, by Anastasios G.?Leventis. The company has evolved over the years and continues to thrive and create thousands of jobs in Nigeria and beyond

Mandilas has been a household name in Nigeria for over 70 years. It was co-founded by John Basil Mandilas, a Greek-born businessman, who was one of the pioneer naturalized Nigerian citizens.

On the 29th of September 1960, on the eve of our independence on 1st October, Flour Mills of Nigeria was established by George Coumantaros. The company has evolved into one of the biggest brands in the foods and agro-allied industry in Africa.?We thank them for believing in Nigeria and for remaining with us for the long haul.

You will often hear it said that Nigeria is a giant on the African continent, not just because of the vast landmass, an abundance of natural resources and the huge population of some 200 million people.

For me, our greatest strength and hope is in Nigeria’s youth. They are our future. They are amongst the most dynamic, innovative, creative, energetic, confident, hardworking in the world. A talented digitally aware generation is driving significant investment into the vibrant tech startup space in Nigeria.

A lot of my energy will be spent on uncovering opportunities for our youth to enable them to thrive and grow to reach their full potential. Apart from the digital space, our youth have demonstrated exceptional ability in entertainment, the arts, music, film, sports and so many other fields of endeavour holding the world spellbound with their talent.

Your most famous Greek-born Nigerian migrant, Giannis Antetokounmpo (Adetokunbo) and his brothers are making us all proud on the basketball court. Beyond their extraordinary skill, I admire their focus, their hard work, their discipline, their values. In many ways, their success epitomises the limitless possibilities when the right opportunities are presented to our remarkable youth.

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Nigerian Women

A word about the Nigerian woman. Sometimes our cultural norms tend to relegate our women to the background and as Nigerian women, we have our fair share of discrimination. It is thus most gratifying to see Nigerian women thrive in leading positions both at home and on the world stage. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala now heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and Ms Amina Mohammed is Deputy Secretary-General at the United Nations.

A largely untapped resource, the Nigerian Woman is capable, strong, resilient, creative, powerful, and beautiful. We appreciate the extraordinary role and value that women bring in development and we must do all we can to empower them. As it is often said if you empower one woman, the impact goes far beyond the individual to her family, her community, and her nation.

I am very pleased that some members of the Nigerian Women’s Organization in Greece are here with us this evening. I look forward to working with you and our friends to uncover sustainable opportunities to enhance the prospects for our women and girls.

To our Nigerian brothers and sisters, thank you for flying our flag with dignity. Let us ask ourselves; Who is Nigeria??Sometimes we talk about our nation as though she were some abstract entity. Nigeria is all of us, and it will take each one of us; you and i as individuals, wherever we may choose to reside, in Nigeria, in Greece, or anywhere else in the world, to do all that we can in our own sphere of influence to build the Nigeria that we desire and dream of. We must go beyond Nigeria’s never-ending potential to actualising that dream of becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.

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Coronavirus

Let me spend a few moments to talk about how we have fared as a nation thus far with the Corona Virus.?Nigerians rallied to protect ourselves from the deadly virus. We continue to survive the pandemic as a nation with some success and indeed, provide an example certainly at regional levels.

Thankfully, the doomsday scenario predicted for our country never came. Even as the Delta variant continues to spread, we are building the capacity that we need to respond both now and well into the future.

We have been particularly fortunate at this time to have had an exceptional team of professionals at the helm of our fight against the pandemic. Following the experience with the deadly Ebola Virus, a few years ago, The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi and his team under the leadership of the Lagos State Governor, Jide Sanwo-Olu, put structures in place early, which helped protect some 22 million residents of the mega city of Lagos.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has recently been appointed Assistant Director-General for Health Emergency Intelligence. He will lead the work on strengthening pandemic and epidemic intelligence globally. This is a testament to some of the extraordinary talent that Nigeria brings to the global community.

In his address at the UNGA a fortnight ago, President Buhari reminded the global community that the current state of global inequity in access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable; a situation where a handful of countries keep the global vaccine supply to themselves and leave thousands of units to expire at the expense of other nations without access is deplorable. Despite this sad and grim reality, the Nigerian government is exploring available options to ensure that Nigerians have free access to safe and effective vaccines.

Nigeria Beyond Oil

A key part of my charter mandate is to foster a “Nigeria Beyond Oil.”?As you are aware, oil has been our mainstay for decades and as we continue to optimise and enhance our oil and gas sector for the foreseeable future, we do realise that as the world moves on to renewables and away from fossil fuels, our focus must be to aggressively increase the Non-Oil Sector contribution to our GDP.

The Agricultural sector remains key to our economic diversification strategy as the sector has been a consistent driver contributing over 20% to the overall GDP in the first and second quarters of 2021. We have seen significant private sector investments in almost all areas of the agricultural value chain even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nigeria is open for business. It is a market that you cannot afford to miss out on. I thus wish to invite the Greek business community to take advantage of the wide range of opportunities open for investment, capacity building, in agriculture, energy including wind and solar power, education, waste management, tourism, and cooperation in the Maritime and aviation sectors.

Intense efforts are underway to bridge the significant infrastructural development deficit, including mass housing projects, road, and rail construction and so on.

In our President’s words last week, “The seaports still remain problematic. The effect of our various interventions to reduce the gridlocks and inefficiencies have been slower than expected.”

Greece is a?maritime nation by tradition as?shipping and capabilities in the marine space have been a key element of your economic activity from ancient times. There are huge opportunities for collaboration and investments in the maritime space, ranging from boat building, port maintenance and management, dry dock support, pilot training, salvage and re-floating of vessels to decongest the harbour, capacity building and more.

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Greek-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Technology

On the 23rd and 24th November 2021, the Greek-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Technology and the Nigerian Embassy in Athens will be hosting an investment forum where different sectors will be presented and there will be an opportunity to interact with stakeholders. We thank the Chamber for your partnership and support.

I must say that I have found something quite magical about Greece and Greeks that have made me feel very much at home in your beautiful country since I arrived in June, just a few months ago. The warmth, the sense of humour, that entrepreneurial spirit, the love for holidays, the joie de vivre, the lifestyle and the cherished extended family, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandparents coming together…it is just the same at home.

On our part, at the Nigerian Embassy in Athens, we present a Nigeria of excellence and prospects and seek to drive interest and investment in all fields of endeavour to our homeland.?We are excited about the prospects to deepen the relationship that Greece and Nigeria currently enjoy.

We are also focused on delivering sustainable ways to support the Nigerian community in Greece to become a more progressive and prosperous one.

Our exceptional team remains committed to providing an outstanding level of service to all who honour us with a visit to our chancery. Do pay us a visit when you can. We would love to receive you.

My Greek lessons have started and I leave you with “Efharisto Poli”.

Thank you for honouring us with your presence and spending your evening with us.

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God Bless the Hellenic Republic

God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Ambassador Opunimi Akinkugbe

Nigerian Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic

7th October 2021