A former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Australia, Ambassador Ayoola Olukanmi, has said the currency swap deal between the country and China would be successful if the federal government appointed principal envoys that would see to its implementation.
Naija News reported that the federal government renewed the currency swap deal earlier signed in 2018 with China.
The total value of the agreement is 15 billion yuan (about 2.09 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.28 trillion Nigerian naira, the People’s Bank of China said on its website.
In an interview with Channels TV, on Sunday, Ayoola Olukanmi said the 2018 swap deal was not perfected because the then government did not follow up to see its success.
He commended President Bola Tinubu’s government’s move to renew the deal but emphasized the need to have substantive ambassadors.
“I think the first thing that we should address in this panel is the question of the ambassadors of Nigeria across the world.
“The China deal is good is important but at the end of the day it is the principal envoy and others who will follow up. Honestly speaking, I had the opportunity to have served as the Nigerian Diplomat and Ambassador outside and also the Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, that’s why I’m saying is the other side of the coin.
“The deals are good but we need to have our ambassadors on ground, to be able to effect it, principal envoys, that is very key. I think a list of ambassadors will be submitted to the Senate for ratification, it is becoming too late,” Olukanmi said.