By Funsho Arogundade
Since she assumed office as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti, Dame Maureen Piribonemi Tamuno has done anything possible to deliver on her mandate. In this interview with Saturday Sun, she speaks on her tour of duty, her relationship with Ooni of Ife and how she has been working to help the blacks in the Caribbean find their roots
How would you describe your experience since your arrival in the Caribbean as Nigerian High Commissioner?
It has been a wonderful experience. There’s an unmistakable connection between the two people. We are actually the same people. The love, the bond and the connection are so strong. If you look at the Jamaicans, you can tell the part they were from Nigeria. Most of them were convinced they were taken away from Nigeria because of the similarity in our ways of life. In fact, there is a town in Jamaica called Abeokuta. It’s actually under the rocks like we have in Nigeria. So, as we have Abeokuta in Nigeria, they also have Abeokuta in Jamaica. There is also a Calabar High School in a town in Jamaica affiliated to the one in Cross River State. I have visited the school and spoken to the students. They are doing very well. My predecessor in the High Commission during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure once brought some of the students and their teacher to Nigeria in a collaborative programme. When I visited the school recently, I discovered that the teacher who led them to visit Nigeria is the one running the school now. The students were very excited to have me around and they asked a lot of questions about Calabar and Nigeria generally. So, there is that bond between Jamaica and Nigeria. You could feel the connection and most of them feel since they were forcefully taken away, it made them forget the aspect of the culture, especially the respect common to the Yoruba. They are missing that aspect and thus the younger ones are eager to reconnect with their Motherland.
What are you doing to make their desires come to reality?
That’s an interesting question. On my resumption as the Nigerian High Commissioner in Jamaica, I discovered that we’ve had three joint commissions with the Jamaicans. Now, I am already looking at those MOUs and working at putting the agreements together to bring them to fruition. In the past, we visited Jamaica to have those three MOUs. But this time around, I had to insist that the Jamaicans should come to Nigeria. Fortunately, when they agreed, it was their Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms. Kamina Johnson Smith, who led the delegation to Nigeria for the bilateral meeting. On her arrival, they landed in Lagos and we took her and her team to Badagry to see where the slaves took off. They took pictures and asked questions, which formed the narratives she told their government and people in Jamaica. We later flew them to Abuja where we formalized the issues around the Joint Commission. To officially kick-start the relationship, we are looking at the air agreement that will give us a direct flight to and from Jamaica. Of course, there was already an experimental direct flight to Montego Bay in 2019. It was an 11-hour direct flight. We are already looking at fine-tuning that agreement. The MOU is in progress as both Ministers of Aviation and Justice of both countries are looking at it. The agreement that was almost ready and at a signing stage and should have been signed at the last United Nations General Assembly in New York, as a side event, was that on culture. Without even the agreement, we’ve started the collaboration and working together. During the Jamaicans’ 60th Independence anniversary, we participated fully as Nigeria. We were given an hour to feature in their programme. During the celebration, we took some cultural groups like the Seki Dance Group from Niger Delta, an Igbo cultural group and the Nigerian Unity Dance Group with Hausa/Fulani, Tiv and Akwa Ibom fused to deliver a ‘One Love Nigeria, One Love Jamaica’ performance. The people over there were excited to know a lot about Nigeria, which they didn’t know before.
How far have you gone in making it happen?
Invariably, I represent Nigeria in the Caribbean, and most of the people in the Caribbean are of African descent. These people know that they actually left some parts of West Africa especially Nigeria and some parts of Ghana. Their forefathers were forcefully taken as slaves and migrated to different parts of the Caribbean like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and other countries. So, there has been a growing yearning for them to come to the Motherland to reconnect with their roots. And that’s where I come in. Ever since I assumed office, most of them have been coming to the High Commission office to do their DNAs to trace their roots. Some say they are Yorubas and I have to connect all the dots. They believe so much in our culture and heritage and they want to connect. This is what brought me and my counterpart —the Jamaican High Commissioner in Nigeria— to come together to visit Ile-Ife, seen as the source of the Yoruba. We chose to see what the Olojo Festival is all about so we can give those people more insight towards what we are talking about.
Is that what has fuelled your close relationship with Ile-Ife and Ooni Enitan Ogunwusi in particular?
Absolutely! But you also need to know that my connection and interest in Ile-Ife has to do with culture. However, I am someone who believes in building relationships across borders. When I got the appointment to serve as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Caribbean, the first thing I did was to conduct research on Jamaica. I later found that one of the easiest ways to connect with them was through culture. So, I looked at various areas and Ile-Ife featured prominently in achieving my goals. Of course, I am from the Niger Delta and very close to my kings. So, the very first time I chose to visit the Ooni Palace to intimate Kabiyesi of my plans, I didn’t come alone as I visited with my own king from Rivers State. On that occasion, the Ooni immediately adopted me as his daughter and rechristened me Adetamilore (which simply means ‘She that the crown has blessed’). That was how the relationship started with Kabiyesi giving us all the needed support. I am not only close to him but to other monarchs including the King of Bonny in my state. I am also close to other Nigerian business giants and politicians who have been very supportive in my quest to deliver on my mandate. A couple of months ago, Alhaji Aliko Dangote was in Jamaica. He visited the Embassy to talk with me. Herbert Wigwe, the Access Corporation CEO, also visited too. So, I am just one person who believes in building relationships across all divides.
How do you think our traditional rulers can help to deliver on your goals?
You have to look at what can give you the best result. The way we are as Nigerians, our culture has made it expedient for us to respect our traditional institutions and not to meddle it with politics. They are more permanent. Government comes and government goes but these thrones are more permanent. So, I think our kings should drive certain parts of the activities that happen in their space. The government has to partner with them so we don’t have a break when there is a change with another person who comes with a different style. There should be continuity. And we should give honour and respect to them so we can build a productive symbiotic relationship that will help both sides and the people that entrusted their hopes and aspirations on us.
You seem very passionate about every assignment you are saddled with right from your days in Rivers State and now to the Caribbean…
I have realised that what has really worked for me in all my activities as a private and public servant is putting everything before God. Everything I do, I put God first. So with that, the spirit of excellence is embedded in me and I always wanted to perform optimally. When I was the Executive Chairman of my Local Government —Ogu/Bolo LGA— in Rivers State, it was under my tenure that my community was connected to the National Grid within my first 100 days. Till today, anytime I am around, my people would say ‘Maureen don come; light don come.’ When I moved to the State House of Assembly, I did so many projects and programmes to the extent that I was nominated to represent Nigeria in the Female Parliamentary Association in the Commonwealth. I won that election in Cameroon and went on to do exceedingly well to the extent that people think I should remain a parliamentarian. So, I know it’s God and the spirit of excellence, though in my private life as a consultant, I have a doctorate in Consumer Behaviour and a specialised certificate from Harvard University on Strategy. I have always tried to work with passion on anything I believe in. So, even while serving in government, that is the spirit I imbibed. Being a parliamentarian, it was easy to break through when I got to the Caribbean. The Jamaican Senate discovered I was a parliamentarian and an ambassador, so they hosted me on the floor of their Senate. They called on the Speaker, a woman, to give me all the needed support. My colleagues —fellow ambassadors including those of Germany and Belgium— all paid a courtesy visit to me and we all had a conversation on how best to do our job. I have only been a year and some months on the seat, I have quick access and received needed support from the government and people of Jamaica to the extent that some people think I have been there for three years.
Let’s talk about women in politics. How would you rate their participation and acceptance?
The major issue confronting our gender is that of traditional impediment which has held women down in this clime. The idea of not allowing women to be heard or seen is the biggest elephant in the room. I remember when I was running to be a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, I ran against two chiefs and a lawyer. The three of them teamed up against me, saying the issue of the assembly is like that of a head of a fish that can only be eaten by men and not women. They went as far as pushing their prejudices in the media. But kudos to the women in my constituency who stood up in my support and insisted on voting me as their representative. So, because of those natural impediments, some women become withdrawn. But I will use this opportunity to once again say to those women who are interested in service that they must have what they are doing before politics. They must have a second address because politics, to me, is a vocation. It is not a career. I am a management consultant who is into politics. Outside politics, I still have a life. But if you are going into partisan politics, you will still need money to do things for people. If you don’t have money to do things as a budding politician, you become vulnerable. So every woman who wants to be in partisan politics needs to empower herself. Empowering not only means monetary. Education and travelling can open their horizons and open doors. You can’t play politics if you have no wherewithal. Building relationships and a wide network would help any woman to go a long way. What has helped me so far in politics is my network, which is my net worth. People are my net worth. So, nobody can underestimate me because of the kind of people I have as friends. The people I connect with are my greatest asset.
How do you balance playing politics with your duty as wife and mother?
Definitely, politics takes time but luckily for me, my kids are no longer babies. When I was raising them, I wasn’t into politics. I was into business, which coincidentally takes a lot of time too. But I created time for my family. Even now that most of them are grown and stay abroad, particularly in England, I am always in touch with them. In fact, we speak every other day. Each time I travel, I ensure that I route my ticket through London so I can see them. But Christmas and Easter, we all come together as a family.