Nigerian’s ambassador to Ukraine, Frank Isoh is a consummate  diplomat. 

Apart from Ukraine, he oversees Nigeria’s mission in three other far east European countries, including Georgia. In this interview shortly after the signing of bilateral agreements between Nigeria and Georgia at Tbilish, Isoh shared his thoughts on a number of issues in the foreign affairs circles. He spoke to IHEANACHO NWOSU.

Ukraine and other far  Eastern European countries are arguably  nations  that diplomats from Nigeria  are usually not enthusiastic to go to . What are the things that scare diplomats from these countries,? what are the challenges you face as Ukraine Ambassador?

Usually this our diplomatic job is very challenging. It requires a lot of tact, you have to be up and doing, you have to undertake the assignments . I would say it has  been a worthy experience and we’ve been able to bring in maturity into the service. This has ensured good  service delivery. We have been well prepared for this job having spent over 32 years in service , We have imbibed  all the identities required to undertake this assignment. There  is nothing one does without experiencing challenges. Challenges are part of life. I dont know about people running away from the countries you mentioned. The experience am having is worthwhile. Apart from Ukraine i oversee some other countries .

The recurring complaints of Nigerians living in Ukraine and some of the countries in eastern Europe is that they are often left to themselves when they have problems . Are you aware of this complaint, and why is it so?

It is totally not true. I think its totally erroneous for people to think that something would be happening to a fellow Nigerian and the government agency would look the other way . Its not likely that such things would ever happen. We do have instances where a Nigerian’s  right has been unduly abridged. As an authority we did the best we can within the circumstance. We can’t go on fighting the authorities, but we do pursue thiese issues through the diplomatic channels, and at the end of the day they end in court because the culprits are usually caught and prosecuted within the legal system of the country.

But its not true that we look the other way  while Nigerians are being harassed except if the issue was not brought to our attention.  And  let me stress it that the mission is not everywhere, but we do have a network of community leaders with whom we collaborate to give us information about  what is happening wherever they reside within the country. And that has come very helpful and handy in the way we relate with Nigerians within our community.

But i would advise Nigerian to watch out for cases where they could be manhandled and to avoid certain places . In a country where you stand up not minding the colour of your skin, then its imperative for instance that if you must go to a night club, you go in a group, and ensure you are not sitting isolated, such that might elicit tendencies of being attacked. That is what we have been preaching to them (Nigerians). It is not in the government policy of any  country that Nigerians living there should  be mal-treated but these things happen because we have individuals who are naturally racist in their orientation.

But  the key thing to mention here is that the embassy has  always been very proactive in taking up cases that come  to its attention . I am proud to say that we have been able to get the authority there to prosecute individuals who have been caught engaging in such practices

You said the embassy has been   proactive, but at the town hall you organised at Georgia, Nigerians residing in the country  praised you and said it was the first time an official of government would bring them together. Is this not a contradiction to what you said about being proactive?

Well, it is  good to get this kind of reactions from Nigerians resident  in Georgia. It encourages us to know that what we are doing is being appreciated.  Well  I cannot hold brief for people who sat there before me, I can only talk of the period that i have been  here.  And  because of my orientation, the moment I came in I was very proactive in trying to reach out to Nigerians , understand the peculiar circumstances under which they live there, and see how we can make them stay there  in more comfortable way. I can only speak for the period that i have been the ambassador. That is  the only period I have the experience to talk about.

Why are you different from other ambassadors?

I dont know what you mean by being different from other ambassadors. I have not said that i am different . What i can tell you is that I have  had experience of 32 years on this job.  I believe it goes beyond the years of experience really, it has to do with one’s  nature as an individual too. You must have the compassion to look  for your fellow country men and compassion to put yourself in the hard places, the compassion to understand that you too have a child of  the age of these  young boys and girls who are residing there and imagining that whatever that is happening to them could happen  to your own blood somewhere too.

So with  this orientation the tendency to come out to fight hard for the rights of your compatriots will be there, since being an ambassador there implies that I am a father to them, all of them, because they are young enough to be my children. I see them like I am dealing with my own children. So it is that kind of background that I think has helped me a lot to understand the difficulty they go through, and to come out with strategies on how to assist them.

Did you set out in life to make a career in diplomacy or everything happened accidentally ?

My coming to Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not accidental at all, I have always had the dream as a kid in class 3 in secondary school in those days in the 70’s of working in the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs.  I didn’t know exactly what the job entailed .

All I do remember vividly was that at that time, I used to read Time magazines and newspapers  after my dad finishes with them, and I used to come across places where they would say an Ambassador from a country presented a paper to the then head of state, Gen Gowon. And I started asking questions,what does it mean if someone presents  papers? But a friend  of mine who was older told me that it means one works in that particular place and your head of state appoints you as an ambassador, and you are now going to present papers. He told me  that I needed to study political science. But later, I realised it wasn’t only political science you needed to read to prepare you  for the job.

So  let  us just say my consciousness has  been raised  all along, while I was in secondary school. During  my last year in the University of Nigeria, which was from  1975 to 1979, as it was the tradition  in those days, the Federal Civil Service Commission went round before our final exams and interviewed people. And this was the only job I applied for.  I was supposed to fill the three spaces provided for jobs, but I only filled just one for this job. When I was being  interviewed, I was asked why i didn’t take the other two just in case i missed out on the only choice I made. But  I said that was the only job I wanted at the Ministry.

Initially, my dad, not knowing the nature of job I wanted, wasn’t happy that I would be leaving home to a far place like Lagos, and I won’t be able to assist in contributing for  the training of my younger ones. I told him no, that the issue is my character and my orientation, and I want to believe that I have been properly trained , and I would carry out whatever responsibilities needed wherever I lived, and that was how I came to Lagos . Later when we discussed about the issue, I reminded  him that he didn’t want  me to take the job, but today the entire family is benefiting from it, and we all laughed over it.

What is  your position in your family?

I am the first son,the first child. My dad was a civil servant at the Delta State civil service.

Were your younger siblings also against your taking the job?

The younger ones didn’t know what it entailed . I just told them what it meant that occasionally I would travel abroad to go and work in Nigerian embassies abroad, and after about three to four years I would come back home and spend sometime and, I would go to some other regions of the world, and you would be seeing the whole world .

I told them that i am there always to project my government , that am  there to work for my country and everybody supported me.

So far , would you say that you feel fulfilled , that the job has offered you what you expected in terms of financial rewards ?

Naturally if you take a job ,you would expect to be paid for the work you do, but we had options during our time. It was so easy to get jobs in the bank, and generally the private sector which was also booming in the late 70’s and early 80’s. jobs were everywhere and we knew what our colleagues at the private sector were earning something that  was about double of ours, but then we had a different vision and I didn’t want to just work in the public service .I wanted to work in a foreign ministry.   It didn’t matter what the salary was then, the fulfilment of realizing my childhood dream was all that mattered to me . And I believe  too that there are a lot of things that are more than money. For me,education, travelling and having global view of events have been a thrilling experience.

Did you join the service soon after Youth Service or you engaged in other job s awaiting the resultof the interview you had earlier?   

The moment I finished my youth service, the result of the interview conducted during my final year was released by the civil service commission, and a friend of mine saw my name and drew my attention to it, and that was the best thing that happened to me

Why do think Nigeria has not been consistent with her foreign policy thrusts? 

It is not true. If there is any area that  the nation has recorded consistent policy It is in the foreign policy. It has been largely consistent since independence ,. Our national interests to a large extent has remained the same and that is exactly our goal.  We make sacrifices for the betterment of our nationals .

Nigeria has been selfless in giving out without asking for anything in return because we see the foreign policy as a means of coercing other countries.  We share also  our God given natural resources to all these countries without asking for anything in return.

It does appear that Nigeria  pay more attention to what affects nationals of other countries than her citizens. What informs that?  

That is not true, there is a tendency for people to think that because you have given some dollars to another country, then it means you have shortchanged Nigerians. That is not correct.

Let us bring it to the microscopic level, can one say that all he earned is spent on ones family as an individual? There  are instances where when you are walking  on the street and a beggar asks you for money, and you give him or her N10 , when you do that do you say you are shortchanging your family because you gave a beggar N10, nor would anyone say you are spending unrealistically or that you have forgotten about your own family or that you are neglecting problems back home?

Would one say that the money given out would have solved all the problems we have in the country?No.,we cannot live that isolationist life. We always have the need to empathise with other people by putting oneself in their positions and express sympathy. There is no way anyone would say Nigeria would not reach out to other people.

How has persistent under funding of missions affected you?

The situation is not as you are trying to paint it. There are many instances where some missions , of course , may , for one reason or the other , wait for  one or two months before remittances arrive. What  is there for us to understand is that we try to stick to what is available and distribute to all the sectors because I don’t think any government would set up a mission and deliberately decide to under fund it.

It is left for us to understand the circumstances that government finds itself. The money at times might be late in coming due to some bureaucracy back home, but eventually it does arrive, and if properly managed allowances and salaries are promptly paid from the money made available .

I think government should pay more attention into areas of acquiring properties abroad to serve as chancery buildings and residential accommodation for staff in order to save the government a lot of money. We don’t seem to have a deliberate policy of doing that now. Its more  of ad hoc,. If initially when we started in  the1960’s, the government had a deliberate policy.of purchasing property wherever we established a mission, by now the money we are spending paying escalating rents yearly would have been saved and that would have benefited the society. If you watch CNN recently you discover that Russia is the most expensive country in the world presently. Prices of things vary  from countries, but if we had bought properties in the 60’s we wouldn’t be over stretching government on issues of property for missions.

Lets take my mission for example, the vehicle that we bought when the mission was opened, government has  the policy of changing them after five years. The idea is to reduce the  cost of maintenance of  the vehicle.

Many Nigerians believe that the incumbent administration has not brought much changes  in  foreign Affairs . Why has it been so ?

It depends on how you look at it. But from my own point of view, it has had a lot of impact. The core of it is to know that it changes the attitude of civil servants towards rendering of services to target population.

Nobody  took the statistics of how we are relating with the embassies  in the past and now, you would discover  that embassies are now proactive in the areas of identifying and meeting the interest of Nigerians . In the  areas of seeking, sourcing foreign investors to come to the country, we are placing emphasis on these areas. We are focusing on these areas  due to the president’s transformation agenda. I can tell you too that funding of mission, to a large extent,  has  improved in the last three years compared to what it used to be in the past even though we still believe there are rooms for further improvement.

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Source: The Sun Newspaper

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