BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

Renowned cardiologist, Dr.Kingsley Kolapo Akinroye, was, in November 2012, appointed the Honourary Consul of Finland, following the opening of the Honourary Consulate of Finland in Lagos by the Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Her Excellency Mrs Riitta Korpivaara. Prior to his appointment, he had pursued medical studies and a research fellowship in Finland and notably acted as the Secretary General of the Finland-Nigeria Friendship Association for years.

Akinroye, who is also an executive of the World Heart Federation, Geneva, and the Executive Director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, speaks on the the mutual benefits expected to emanate from the ties between Nigeria and the Republic of Finland, acknowledged to be one of the most competitive economies in the world. Excerpts:

What should we expect from you as the Honorary Consul of Finland?

What is expected of me is to be a bridge between Nigeria and Finland, especially in the areas of business, trade and culture, which are essential to each country. Finland is very well known for education, information technology and communication, and I also hope to see how that could be used to benefit our health sector, which is my area of specialization.

*Akinroye…Honorary Consul of Finland

Politically, Finland is a very stable, quiet, advanced, and wealthy country with very small population. But you do not see their wealth on them because they are very shy about everything and do not make noise; they’re very simple people! These are the areas where I feel Nigeria and Finland, with their population of about 160 million and 6million respectively, can both rub off on each other.

Don’t you foresee some kind of difficulties in your job, considering the fact that Nigeria is popularly branded with negativities by the rest of the world?

That is where we have to learn from each other. As indicated in the corruption index by Transparency International, you find out that down below the ladder is Nigeria, identified as the 35th most corrupt country in the world, while Finland is up the ladder, among the first three countries in the world with least corruption. That is an area from which I want my country to learn. We can do it; there’s nothing impossible. If you know the history of Finland, you’ll find out they worked hard to get to where they are because they are generally a very courageous people.

I’m sure Nigeria will one day rise in the corruption index ladder, but I would advocate we start gradually. Another thing that is also very interesting about Finland is the power of women. The cabinets, corporate levels, industries and communities are full of women doing actively well. So, this is an area where I feel Nigeria and Africa in general need to look at, and be able to say women need to come up. I’m glad however that women have made remarkable progress in Nigeria over the last decade, but more work has been to done.

Of what benefit could your appointment be to the teeming number of Nigerians who aspire for greener pastures abroad?

If people are genuinely going for holidays, tourism, education, etc., I’m sure Finland will be able to accommodate them. Ideally, there should be no barrier for anybody to be able to move to any part of the world, but I do know that if the requirements are fulfilled, no country will bar anyone from travelling. This is the first consulate that is being opened by Finland in Nigeria and I’m happy that the Honourary Consul will not give visa, but can only advise. The visa officer who is based in Abuja still wields total control over that and that takes a lot of pressure off me to be able to promote what I really want to promote: trade, commerce, culture, education, healthcare, etc.

The door to Finland is very open to Nigerians, but, like I said earlier, all requirements have to be met. This same issue of difficulty also applies to foreigners abroad who wish to come down to Nigeria, if you would like to know! So many of them are even afraid of going to Nigerian embassies! But like I said, if you fulfill the requirements, no country will close its door against you. Notwithstanding, it will be to my happiness to see an increase in the number of Nigerians going to Finland because that will be a good indicator of mutual progression of friendship between the two countries because when there’s friendship, everything follows and develops easily.