Godknows Igali

Godknows Igali is a Nigerian public servant, diplomat, author and scholar. He was appointed by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in September 2007 as an ambassador to the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark and Norway, resident in Stockholm Quotes There were many times that Nnamdi Azikiwe told Tafawa Balewa: ‘We are one. We are one people.’ Then Tafawa Balewa reminded him, ‘No, you are wrong, we are not one. We are different people, simply different historical experiences, but we have decided and resolved to be one. So for that to happen, there were little shakiness, and that was why the first 40 years were almost like wasted years, years of understanding each other, years of knowing each other, and we compare ourselves sometimes unfairly with nations that have existed for hundreds of years, for many years, which are still, themselves, trying to discover the champion. So those first 40 years, 1960s to 1990s, were very complex: inadequate political institutions, institutional capacity was very low for governments, persistent political instability, and a lot of changes of governments. When we talk about the fact that countries like China want to take advantage of us, yes, they will, if we don’t get our acts right. It will be very difficult for a very small country, resource-rich country, to deal with China as an entity and not fall victim. If we have a strong continental partnership between the strongholds in the continent… We have Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission, but we need to strengthen our relationship". We need to emphasise more on the fact that there’s no basis and there’s nothing like competition; we are partners. France and Germany are driving change in Europe; they look at complementarity. How do I complement you? And I think that should be the spirit So we can have a strong African Union that includes countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt, and we would take Africa through. And this is possible. And this was how the organisation of the African Union was External link Category:Politicians from Nigeria Category:Authors from Nigeria Category:1960 births Category:Dead people