Contact Embassy & Foreign Ministry Before Business Deal, Hungarians Urged

By our Managing Editor

Business Human Interest

In order to avoid 100% being duped, the Hungarian business community have been strongly advised to always contact the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Embassy of Nigeria in Hungary respectively before embarking on business in Nigeria with any individual or organisation. This warning was heard at a business seminar organised as part of the one-week activity geared to mark Nigeria’s Independent Golden Jubilee held at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs.

Named after a decree promulgated to punish fraudsters impersonating government officials, 419 has considerably damaged Nigeria’s image and deprived the country of billions of dollars by these con-men fond of calling themselves Nigerians and, or Nigerian representatives.

It could be recalled that this 419 phenomenon had in the past claimed the life of a Nigerian diplomat, Michael Lekara Wayid when a Czech citizen took his spleen on him at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague in 2003.

Although the moderator, Dr. Olu Owolabi and some at the high table sarcastically and diplomatically dismissed the 419 issue saying, “it takes two to tango” or that it’s a dead issue or that we want to talk about 420, the former Hungarian Ambassador to Nigeria and Chief Counsel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ferenc kató, solemnly cautioned Hungarians to always contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy before embarking on business either with individual or organisation.   

In a similar tone, the head of Embassy of Nigeria in Hungary, Mr Adenrele Adedotun Adepoju, highlighted some of the government initiatives to combat these ever sophisticated con-men. He said that the government has consistently and adequately dealt with this phenomenon tarnishing the image of the country. 

The seminar featured several speakers with different topics centred on “Enhancing Nigeria-Hungarian Trade and Investment Partnership”. All of the speakers being expert in their respective fields largely concentrate their presentations on challenges and how Nigeria and Hungary relationship could be taken to higher level.   

Mr. Adepoju described the seminar as a platform to provide exchange of views to strengthen bilateral task between Nigeria and Hungary with the ultimate objective of consolidating the existing business, and to explore new partnership for the expansion of economic fare to benefit the two countries and their people.

And, indeed each speaker followed Adepoju’s line of thought as they analyzed and synthesized their topics as it relates to their business or passion. The first speaker, Mr. Sami Charles, one of the sponsors and at the same time Chief Marketing Officer for the embassy, introduced Nigeria with passion and a bit of defence when he dabbled into what might be described as image laundry saying, the media and individual negative reports about Nigeria is propaganda. He advised willing business men and women to tap the abundant opportunities in the areas of agriculture, sugar, fuel, telecommunication, tourism and so on. The Chief Marketing Officer explained further that security is tight in the country.

Dr. John Sessi opened his presentation with analogy of two salesmen who went to Africa to sell shoes. Confronted with the same issue of people walking barefooted, one salesman saw the potential in such environment while the other did not. He described the analogy as the “types of challenges we have and it shows the way you see problems and the way you adapt to problems”. Laying emphasis on the immense opportunities in Nigeria for business minded people, Dr. Sessi, who is the Managing Director FROMM Hungary, mentioned agriculture, gas, telecommunication etc as areas where money can be made. He then used the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple and Straight) to drive home the challenges to Nigeria-Hungary Trade and Investment Partnership.

Mr. Peter Morenth used his presentation to draw attention to the critical challenges facing Hungary and African countries in terms of funding SME by the international institutions. Stressing the fact that SME wants to be successful in Africa, the Kingdom of Lesotho Honorary Consul highlighted what the challenges are. Apart from the travel difficulty, Morenth stated that lack of adequate knowledge and information between Nigeria and Hungary are critical challenges.

“Hungarians have lack of adequate knowledge and information regarding funds available,” he said, adding that “lack of information on what the receiving country could have is also a challenge. Describing SME as being recognised as economy driving force by EU, Morenth who is also ITD Hungary Representative in Africa hoped to see the good relationship in the past between the two countries restored through SME funding.

Other speakers were Prof Zoltán Lanker and Mr. Géza Vass. The former spoke passionately about Nigeria-Hungary Partnership in agricultural Development while the latter talked about Trade Relations between Nigeria and Hungary: The Way Forward. Prof. Lanker of the Corvinus University Budapest called for the need to accelerate agricultural development between the two countries which could boost better understanding.

In his own presentation, Mr. Vass, Department Head for Non-European Countries at the Ministry of Natural Economy, described the challenges standing before trade relations between the two countries; and then highlighted the way forward to justify the existence partnership.