PR TIMES AFRICA PRTimesAfrica (March 2016) | Page 28

What was the reaction back home when you got
the posting?
My family has always been happy about me going
places, and has supported me in that. I remember
that even when I was young and wanted to go the
United States as an exchange student for a year,
my mother’s immediate reaction was that when
she was young she did not have those opportuni-
ties, so I should go. My husband and son are very
supportive, too. Of course family back home might
get worried sometimes when they hear interna-
tional news about security problems in Nigeria. I
think some people thought it was courageous of
me to come to Nigeria… -while happy to receive
the compliment, I always make a very conscious
effort to explain to people at home, including me-
dia and businesses, the many faces and all the
positive and fascinating things that Nigeria has to
offer.
programmes?
There are a number of Nigerian students that go
and study in Finnish universities every year. Also
Nigerian school students have been visiting Fin-
land quite regularly. Universities in Finland and
Nigeria have cooperation, and I hope that this
kind of contacts increase. Finland has a very well
developed education system, one of its strengths
being vocational education and training – this
could also offer a lot of potential for cooperation.
Societies and economies cannot operate with just
university graduates, and in Finland vocational
education is of high quality and actually also quite
popular among youngsters. Whenever I have the
opportunity, I always like to talk about the impor-
tance of education. It is good to see that in Nigeria,
too, the government has identified it as an import-
ant priority.
How would you describe the Finnish mission in
Nigeria?
Finland and Nigeria enjoy a very long and good re-
lationship. Our first embassy in sub-Saharan Afri-
ca was in Nigeria,originally established in 1963 in
Lagos, and thenlater moved to Abuja. There have
beensome high level visits in past years, and we
are preparing for more. At the same time, the rela-
tions could be a lot more intensive - and to achieve
that is of course the essence of my job and mis-
sion here. There are so many things we could do in
terms of business for instance. Several important
Finnish companies already operate and do busi-
ness in Nigeria – Nokia for instance,Wärtsiläin
the power sector, orKONE in lifts and escalators,
or sayVaisala withvery sophisticated meteorolog-
ical technology that is actually already present in
many Nigerian airports - I travelledto BirninKebbi
myself when the new airport with some Vaisala
technology there was commissioned.Of course
there are many other potential sectors, too. One
of them is health. Just in November we organized
in Lagos a large event that was about promoting
health and well-being and the expertise that Fin-
land has to offer in this area. What is the focus of Finnish foreign relations in
general?
In promoting a fair world, good and strong rela-
tions and forging genuine partnerships with the
rest of the world, andsecuring a prosperous future
for Finland and the Finnish people, we feel it is
important to be an active international player, to
work in many areas simultaneously, and to be a
responsible member of the international commu-
nity. Finland has been a member of the Europe-
an Union for a long time already. We are also one
of the five Nordic countries with whom we have a
very close traditional relationship and work closely
together. We are active in international organiza-
tions like the United Nations and have been a very
active partner for decades in international efforts
to promote sustainable development and peace
in the world. While situations and solutions in dif-
ferent countries can be different, we feel strongly
that values and strengths such as equality, human
rights,good governance, education and health that
we hold very dear in Finland need to be promoted
globally. A crucially important area in our foreign
relations is also promoting trade and economic
relations. In fact in Nigeria, this is the main focus
of Finland and my mission.
Is there anything your mission is doing to bridge
the communication gap, say through exchange What are the strengths that Finland brings to its
relations with Nigeria?
28 | PRTIMES AFRICA MARCH 2016