The Smiling Coast of Africa, as The Gambia is proudly called, is not just famous for its jollof rice, as served to our team by Madame Fatoumatta Barrow, the First Lady and Mother of the Nation, it is also a land of opportunities for all Africans, who it welcomes with warm embrace. 

Years ago, a Nigerian in his early 20s went there on a visit but somehow refused to return. His senior brother, Azeez Yusuf, was sent by the worried parents to go and return the young lad. 

In anger over his brother’s attitude, Yusuf went to Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia where he met his younger brother, but he too, saw the light and refused to return to Nigeria. Such is the magical pull of The Gambia on its visitors and potential investors.

It has been well over two decades since this incident, and Yusuf is now a famous citizen of The Gambia, owning perhaps the biggest restaurant in the city of Banjul and doing very well in real estate and other businesses. He is happily married to two Gambian ladies, and they are making solid progress together.

To tell you The Gambia is a land of opportunities and that the First Family encourages all Africans and other foreign investors, they personally patronise Azeez Yusuf, most times directly placing order in his Big Apple Restaurant, and drawing him close to the seat of power. 

I jocularly asked him whether what he was doing amounts to jollof-rice-diplomacy and he jokingly ‘threatened’ to ensure I also stay back in The Gambia, as he did. But Azeez Yusuf truly comes across as an unofficial ambassador of Nigeria to that beautiful country, doing very well not only for himself and his family, but other Nigerians and Africans as well.

But as the Gambian First Lady has told us at that meeting in the Presidential Palace in Banjul, Africa will best get it right through integration and spirit of togetherness. Incidentally, that is exactly what she and her husband are busy deepening. Under their stewardship, Gambia’s relationship with other African countroes has imprpved tremendous both at the bilateral and other levels.

There will be no talk of jollof rice or any other meal for that matter, if we as Africans continue to allow outsiders to use us in the destruction of our land. It is the main theme in the presentation made at the Africa Security Watch Conference and Awards by former Army Chief General TY Buratai. According to the respected retired general, the African Union must deploy more time and resources to help this part of the world work out homegrown sustainable solutions to the multifarious problems eating deep into our moral and physical fabric as a continent.

Fortunately, Nigeria, the giant of Africa, has in the past two years been scoring lots of goals in terms of widening opportunities in trade and commerce by its massive crackdown on sea robberies and ship piracy.

Vice Admiral Auwal Zubairu Gambo, Nigeria’s Chief of the Naval Staff, pointed out some of these unprecedented achievements in his brilliant presentation, to include the fact that 11 cases of ship piracy were recorded after he assumed.office in 2021, compared to 44 cases that were recorded in 2020. 

In a similar vein, only 11 sea robberies and piracy cases were recorded in the corresponding year, compared to 22 cases of piracy and 16 sea robberies in 2020. The successes achieved by the Nigerian Navy, for the continent of Africa, resulted in a sitiation where the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Report released on July 14 last year indicating this is the highest achievement by any African country in the past 27 years. The feat has also led to the delisting of Nigeria from the list of piracy-prone countries as conveyed by the International Maritime Piracy Report of March this year.

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Similarly, Lt-General Faruk Yahaya, the Chief of Army Staff emphasised on the need for collaboaration and synergy, reeling out achievements on many fronts, including resettlement of internally displaced persons within the Lake Chad region, and.many other feats that have cumulatively made Africa safer.

But African military has a very limited to achieve unless the political leadership get it right. And so, in his presentation, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State emphasised on the urgent need for African leaders to widen opportunities for all citizens,.especially the youths, and trace its problems from the root. He also emphasised on the need for leaders to as much as possible do away with partisanship in ensuring credible and accoutable governance. Governor Udom is right. He has put all of that into practice in his state to great success.

In concluding, permit me to also correct an error in this piece of past week, a clear mistake of the head and surely not of the heart. I misspelt the name of the representative of the Chief of Army Staff as Major General Victor Ezugwu. The surname is Ezegwu. There are also a host of other distinguished Nigerians especially of the military stock who played important roles towards deepening security in Africa. They include the Nigerian Navy’s Chief of Training and Operations, Rear Admiral Agada and the wonderful role of Nigerian military contingent based in The Gambia, as well as the Nigerian High Commission in Banjul.

There is also the great example of Miss Chillel Sarr, publisher of the Elegance magazine, whose role in making our stay worthwhile can never be quantified. Same goes to her sister, Rose, whose friendship I personally cultivated. Chillel is an international journalist of repute, who is making her country proud. 

There are many other great Africans whose role has remained continuous. They include Mr Patrick Agbambu himself, as well as members of his team in Nigeria and The Gambia.

When the Gambian First Lady served us that special jollof rice, she had with her the Chief of Staff to President Barrow, as well as another beautiful lady, serving as her personal assistant.

Talking about beauty, I never knew The Gambia is home to some of the most beautiful ladies in the world until I went there. A visit to the country will convince you. Those of us on that visit were challenged by the Chief of Defence Staff to get wives from the beautiful country.

While this may be the concluding part of this series started three weeks ago, the fact remains the Gambian story can never be completely told even if we do more series. For those of us that experienced it first-hand, it was a privilege we will live to treasure. We need to know the pulse of each other to discern how to help each other. 

The African Security Watch Initiative is indeed a veritable platform African leaders should encourage and strenghten. With it and other strong platforms across the board, the homegrown African solution to Africa’s problems that General Buratai advocates will not be far in coming. 

CONCLUDED.