The Interview with Paul Arkwright

My assessment is very positive. I read his own assessment, his self-assessment if you like, in the speech that he made a couple of days ago, and I would agree very strongly with that. In those areas that he is being focused on in fighting corruption, in tackling insecurity in particular in the Northeast with Boko Haram, and in diversifying the economy, I think he's made some really significant progress. I think Nigerians are very patient people. I think Nigerians understand the difficulties which the government is facing, and I think they're giving him a lot of credit for the progress that has been made. But I think it's also fair to say that there's a long way to go, and President Buhari himself would agree with that. There's still some further progress to be made in the defeat of Boko Haram. We're seeing other tensions elsewhere in the country, including obviously in the Delta most recently, and on the anti-corruption front there's still some way to go. But the British government in the UK and I as the High Commissioner here are fully behind him. We're supporting him in all of these areas, and we wish him well. We do think he has made a very good start, and we're here to help him.

Well, it's a good point. I was in London when the Prime Minister made that comment, albeit the comment that was off the record as you appreciate, and I was in London when the president arrived and I watched the president deal with that, and I thought he dealt with it very well. He did say that he said, 'I'm not demanding an apology from the British prime minister, but we do want the return of looted assets.' And we're working very closely with the Nigerian government in order to help the return and ensure that that process is accelerated. It's a process which, as you would appreciate, has legal implications that sometimes, much to the frustration of the Nigerian authorities and I have to say sometimes the British authorities, does mean that the return of assets can be slower than people would like. But there is no question that the British government does not wish to hold on to this money. This money belongs to the Nigerian people, and they are working very hard with the Nigerian government to ensure that it is returned as quickly as we can do that. So yes, we appreciate that this is a key issue, but it's an issue where we're working in cooperating very closely with the government.

You described the UK as the colonial master. I think that's a rather old-fashioned term. It's certainly not one that I ever use. I like to think of the UK and Nigeria as partners working together in a whole range of areas. So first of all, I'd like to just challenge that description. The issue of visas is an important one. The issue of Nigerians in the UK is an important one. The first point I'd like to make is that Nigerians are very welcome in the UK. Nigerians make a huge contribution to the UK culturally, politically. There are five British MPs of Nigerian descent. In football, which everybody's mad about including me, there are over 18 Nigerian players in the Premier League playing for some of the top clubs in the UK in England. There is no doubt that there's a massive contribution, and we appreciate that and we welcome it and we encourage it. The issue then when it comes to visas is one around those people, the few Nigerians, the small minority who overstay the conditions of their visa, who are there for longer than the visa permits them to be, and as such are breaking British rules, breaking the immigration rules. And I think it's fair to say that anybody who breaks the rules cannot just sort of get off scot-free. If I broke a rule or a law in Nigeria, then you would expect me to be punished, or any British national who broke any rule in Nigeria. And Nigerians are not being targeted in the UK. These are rules which I'm actually talking about those who want to go to the United Kingdom. You're surmising that a large number of people are refused visas. That's not the case. The vast majority of people who apply for visas get the visa. The visa application system has been made easier. If you go online and search UK visas, you will find there is an online system now which is much easier than it was before. It's quick. If you provide all the documentation, if it's all there and it is legitimate and you can demonstrate that you have the funds required, then you will get a visa, you will get a visa in pretty quick time. So those people who have been refused a visa are refused a visa for good reason, and they are the reasons which are not specifically targeted against Nigerians.

Well, first of all, you're right, there is a referendum coming up. It's coming up very soon on the 23rd of June in fact. We are in a system of purdah, I don't know if you have that here, but anyway, purdah means that any government official is not allowed to make comments on the referendum. What I would say is that there is a vote. The people of the United Kingdom will decide in that vote whether or not we will stay in the UK, sorry, stay in the EU or leave the EU. And obviously if we stay in the EU then the current arrangements will apply. If the decision is taken that we leave the EU, we will have to look at what impact that will have. I think it's too early for me to say or to speculate. One thing I would say is that the UK, and this is a fact, the UK is not part of the Schengen agreement in the European Union, and so different visa rules apply to us as they do in the Schengen area.

Okay, well thank you for the question. Yes, the statement that was made that you referred to in the beginning, and the reason of course that President Buhari was in London was that the British prime minister had set out a whole range of actions in the international area to fight corruption through international action and coordinating international action. So the very fact that there was a summit to deal with that was a British initiative. One of the things to address your question directly, one of the things that my prime minister has decided to do and agreed to do in the UK is set up a register of what is called beneficial ownership, in other words revealing who owns what in the United Kingdom. That includes foreign people, that includes Nigerians, it includes other nationalities as well. When you can see who owns what in the UK, there is transparency. When there is transparency, there is much less opportunity for corruption. I'm not saying that the United Kingdom is a perfect country in any way, and I'm a representative of that country and I'm proud of that country. We're not saying that it's perfect. What we are saying is that with international cooperation and through a British lead, we can actually tackle some of these issues which you've been addressing, and that includes those issues which you've raised with particular reference to Nigerians. And I would repeat, on the funds we are doing what we can to return those just as quickly as we can.