The Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Nigeria, Michael Derus has described his stay in Nigeria as very inspiring.
Mr. Derus whose diplomatic appointment as German Consul General to the Federal Republic of Nigeria approaches its end said that he is very obsessed with working with African countries and will definitely miss Nigeria’s dynamic cultural attributes.
In this session with Vera Anyagafu, Prisca Sam-Duru and Emeka Aginam, the out-going CG is of the view that Nigeria needs to understand that the energy sector is a major aspect of development, while also urging the government to increase effort on agriculture.
Excerpts;

How would you describe your stay in Nigeria in the past 2 years?

Derus

My two years in Nigeria were really very inspiring in many instances. It was not my first assignment to Africa. I have been posted to Maputu Mozambique in the early 90’s with the end of the civil war.  After that I had worked a lot in many fields of multi-national politics. After that, I was really longing to go back to a life I desire. I was very obsessed with working with African countries. So, I accepted coming to Lagos joyfully due to the dynamics and potentials of this great nation as well as its huge impact on the entire West Africa. I can tell you that my stay in Nigeria has been very interesting. I have also enjoyed many cultural attributes, music, arts and so on, just as we saw very many interesting development in the country.

Also, we witnessed what happened during the Ebola crisis, and as we had done on various occasions, we commend Nigeria on the swift action taken to contain that deadly virus. The number of casualty was small compared with what was recorded in some other affected countries. Nigeria gave positive example to other countries and really proved that with combined efforts she can make huge impact on the entire world. With that singular effort, Nigeria was declared Ebola free.

Nigeria power sector

What do you think of the Nigerian power sector?

The energy sector is one major aspect of development. But there is need to look more into agriculture on one hand and it is important to sustain that approach. The German embassy had organized series of seminars, put together with the some of the energy delegations here and this was what we already started last year, and has done 4 seminars which we looked at more or less a testing program, but they turned out to be so positive.  And again our companies have developed very many solutions which might be very useful and as we are having these seminars, with experts, scientists, and stakeholders, in Nigeria, there has been positive impact.

I think our discussions have the same footing with all the stakeholders to identifying solutions and from this special forum of seminars we have brought together a lot of Nigerian-German relations in that field.

With the Germany energy experience, what advice do you have for this great nation’s new administration?

Let me quickly say it is more difficult to advice a great nation because they have their own policies and nature, as well as their own social economic solutions and I respect that. That is why I think it is really important to have a debate on that on same footage. What we can do is to share with our partners the advantages and disadvantages of part of this approach and some experiences and also to let you know what had been done for you to see the effect of what you want to do. The issues of sustainable energy and security are linked together. Nigerians are very much aware of the public interest and there is a social awareness of the issues at hand. I cannot talk, assess the new government at the federal or the state level, but the former governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola, often organized series of 6 economic and environmental summits and I was privileged to be invited to also deliver some keynote speeches. And a lot has been done in respect of alternative energy solutions with smaller energy companies, but it is very crucial that awareness is there and more energy is put into actualising this goal.

With your experience so far in diplomatic service, do you think the possible exit of Greece from the Eurozone will have a negative impact on the German economy?

That is in a way a hypothetical question, but I think there is a will and way for new opportunities and of course we hope that the development that is on meets the highest goal.