Category: Diplomatic Channel

Positive reports on Nigerian diplomacy and international relations!

U.S. Ambassador Launches Technology Priority American Space in Lagos

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. W. Stuart Symington has opened Nigeria’s first state-of-the art Priority American Space hosted at the Yaba offices of technology incubator, Co-Creation Hub (CC-Hub).

The space, which is equipped with computers, alongside internet access, a library and various technological tools, is free for the use of interested parties. It opens Mondays to Fridays, from 10am to 5pm.

Priority American SpaceAccording to Mr. Symington, the space is equipped with technology to help users develop innovative ideas and interact with the various people across the world. In his words;

“At the Priority American Space in Lagos, we are investing in technology and programs to unleash the creativity of Nigeria’s burgeoning community of innovators.

We are pleased to partner with Co-Creation Hub, a leading force for incubating social entrepreneurship and technological advancement.”

Furthermore, Darcy Zotter, public affairs officer, U.S. consulate general, Lagos, said:

“We want to support what we see as a lot of talent here. A lot of Nigerians are involved in innovation and entrepreneurship and that was one of the reasons for us to open this priority space here in partnership with CCHub.

We want to do what we can to support CCHub’s efforts and open it up to the public. As the head of CCHub said, when you go above the first floor, you have to be a member, you don’t have to be a member to come here. It is free, open and has a wide range of resources. We want to help spark ideas.”

The centre, which is the 10th of its kind in Africa and 67th in the world, comprises a MakerSpace, a tech area designed to promote digital skill building; a workshop space equipped with the latest laptops and tablets for internet learning.

It also has a conversation space for small group meetings and research and a meeting space that supports innovation and creative collaboration.

‘India Remains Nigeria’s Highest Trade Partner’ [2017]

According to the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, India remains Nigeria’s highest trade partner inspite of the decrease in the volume of trade between both countries.

Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama made this declaration when a delegation from the Defence College, India, led by Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Nagabushana Reddy paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the visiting military officers were on a three-day world study tour to Nigeria as part of the curriculum for their Masters Degree in Philosophy (MPhil) programme.

The volume of trade between India and Nigeria dropped from $16 billion in 2015 to $12 billion in 2016 due to the fall in oil price.

The Minister, expressed Nigeria’s determination to strengthen trade relations between Nigeria and India, recalling that the two countries had long term trade relations:

“India is our largest trading partner at the moment; India is a very important partner in all aspects and we continue to look forward to sustain that.”

He said that in its efforts to fast track the process of diversification of the economy, the government adopted policy of economic diplomacy. According to the Minister;

“This is where economic diplomacy came up; we realise that we cannot rely on one commodity, we need to diversify and we have to reach out to other countries that we are ready for business.

We also tried to make the environment more conducive for investment; there have been a lot of policies in reaching out to other countries that we are serious for business.

We have put a lot of policies in place to show to investors and the world at large that Nigeria is ready for business.”

In his remarks, the High Commissioner said the officers were in Nigeria on a world tour as part of the requirements for their military academic qualification.

He said that the visiting officers would leverage on the existing relationship between India and Nigeria to acquire the needed knowledge for their courses.

Nigerian Navy & Medshare International Train Over 30 Biomedical Engineers and Technicians

The Nigerian Navy (NN), in collaboration with a US-based firm, Medshare International train more than 30 of its biomedical engineers and technicians at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo, Lagos.

According to the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Ibok Ibas represented by the Chief Staff Officer, Western Naval Command, Rear Adm. Chris Udofia, Ibas,

“The training will also build on the navy’s credible manpower development to achieve optimal capability of personnel.

The presence of highly skilled biomedical engineers and technicians are important to quality health care delivery.

Healthcare delivery all over the world is increasingly dependent on, not only skilled health care professionals, but also the use of diagnostic and therapeutic medical equipment.

These equipment, which have already been put to use in the various facilities, would require regular maintenance and occasional repairs if faulty.

This realisation prompted the need to include the training of navy’s biomedical engineers and technicians as part of the agreement with medshare international.

The training has also been extended to biomedical engineers and technicians from the Nigerian Army and Air Force.’’

Ibas, however, said that the training would not be exhaustive, following the duration of the training (one week) and advised nominated participants to make best use of the opportunity and acquire as much knowledge as they can.

According to the representative of MedShare International, Mr. Eben Armstrong,

“Instead of donating equipment all the time, we should be able to install it and train the end users on how to use it and more importantly, train the technicians and engineers on how to maintain the equipment.”

The Nigerian Navy had earlier in the year, taken delivery of some medical equipment worth $1.2 million, donated by the firm.

The equipment are microscopes, ophthalmoscopes, thermometers, nebulizers, centrifuges and stethoscopes

Others are, 24 Hill-Rom Advanta and 26 skyler S2 Hospital Beds with mattresses, 40ft containers with about 4, 000 boxes of brand new medical supplies, among others.