By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Nigeria is disappointed at the Korean immigration authority's unwelcoming attitude toward Nigerians who come to Korea for business, Nigerian Ambassador to Seoul Desmond Akawor said.
"Koreans should open their hands and accept Nigerians as partners," Akawor in a straw hat said in an interview with The Korea Times.
He said his country enjoys growing economic ties with Korea and endeavors to attract more Korean investors.
"We don't support Nigerians who make trouble in Korea," but legitimate Nigerian businessmen contribute to the economy, he said. "Why should they beg to work here?"
According to the Korean Immigration Service, in 2007 more than 1,800 Nigerians entered Korea. Of them, those with business purpose hovered 1,000, including those with short-term visas with less than 90 days and mid- and longer-term visas with maximum two years.
The D-8 Visa, one of the business visas designated to promote foreign direct investment to Korea, is issued to a foreign national with a minimum investment of 50 million won, or $50,000. The renewable investment visa allows applicants to stay up to up to two years.
The ambassador said the Korean government requires Nigerian businessmen to renew their documentation every six months, urging an amendment to the cumbersome routine that leaves a negative impression and distrust toward Korea among Nigerians.
Nearly 500 Nigerians were believed to possess D-8 visas last year, an immigration official said, and raised questions about the ambassador's claim of Nigerians required to renew their documentation every six months.
"The duration of stay is subject to the level of achievement that an individual investor has made during the previous stay. For some, it could be full two years, and for others it isn't. But it can't be just six months," the official said.
Apart from the visa issue, he is by and large content with the direction the two countries' diplomatic ties are headed with strong anticipation for growing economic activities.
The oil producing African country, in hopes to export crude oil to Korea, welcomed a memorandum of understanding signed between the two nations on oil exploration in one of Nigeria-designated offshore blocks.
Construction of the first vessel equipped with a special driller is more pleasing news, the ambassador said, pointing at a scale model of the vessel seated on the corner of his desk.
Nigeria, the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world, produces nearly 2.5 million barrels a day, and largely exports to European countries.
Oil revenue plays the largest role in the domestic economy, accounting for 40 percent of the GDP. Korea, mostly dependent on Middle Eastern countries for its petroleum demand, imports Nigerian crude oil on an irregular basis. The amount of imports reaches only a few million barrels a year.
Nigeria and Korea established diplomatic ties in 1980. Korea gains surplus in trade with Nigeria, exporting machinery, automobiles and electronic appliances.
Akawor says strategic importance for Asia, especially Japan, China and Korea, has been recognized within the foreign ministry of Nigeria, and with that, the government has begun to pay attention to the region in recent years. "We have to reach out to Northeast Asia more, because they are major consumers of what we have."
Akawor's appointment as ambassador took into consideration his career as a businessman and a mayor. "You would not send a historian to a country like Korea."
Akowar has a strong background in the private sector of the oil industry and public sector serving as mayor of Abuja, the capital.
The ambassador said Nigeria is eyeing the Korean shipbuilding industry for oil and natural gas can only be delivered by vessels.
"We have not developed a transportation industry," he said.
Plus, for the nearly 150 million populations scattered through 923,000 square kilometers of land, the far-advanced Korean information and technology industries are very appealing.
Akowar thinks it needs a little more communication between the peoples of both countries, to comprehend each other's culture and customs, which has been echoed by many other African diplomats in Korea.
For that to happen, he made a few unique proposals.
"I want to see a Nigerian soccer player playing for a Korean team. And I hope to see more Koreans and Nigerians wed," he said with a big laugh.
In addition, on the occasion of the Nigerian National Day celebration in October, he will figure a way to exchange a dance troupe, which will demonstrate authentic cultural elements.
For Nigerians, it will be female drum players that aren't in existence. "In Nigeria, the drum is an instrument of men," he said.