Outgoing French ambassador to Nigeria speaks about time in Nigeria, new role

France’s outgoing ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, on Thursday, walked confidently into one of the halls of the embassy where journalists were waiting to speak with her about the sudden call to return to France.

She had already applied and received approval to be in Nigeria until 2025 when President Emmanuel Macron asked her to resume as Director for Africa at the foreign ministry.

Ms Blatmann told journalists on Thursday that she only knew Nigeria from the writings of Chimamanda Adichie, Chinua Achebe and what Western media reported, mostly “Boko Haram.”

“It was part of my mission to go further than that and to be able to showcase what Nigeria really is and it is so much more than what is going on in the north-east,” she said.

Ms Blatmann spent 27 months in Nigeria during which she travelled 47 times out of her Abuja station across 15 states of the country.

“I was hoping I would have two more years to do the others and set the record to visit the 36 states,” she said, laughing.

Although frustrated that she will be unable to set a record, she said she is proud of her country’s other achievements in Nigeria, ranging from economic, cultural, security and humanitarian.

Ms Blatmann took no prisoners as she went on for almost an hour talking about France’s interventions in Nigeria including a 70 million euros solar power project in Jigawa State that will commence this year.

France, she said, has doubled its investment in Nigeria’s private sector over the last decade, accounting for 60 per cent of all French foreign direct investments (FDI) in West Africa.

This, the outgoing ambassador said, shows how much France focuses on the Nigerian private sector.

“What makes me very proud is that the French companies in Nigeria (100) are not just here to sell French products, they are actually investing…,” she said, recalling how she happily attended several openings and commissioning of their projects.

She noted that Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has invested over three billion euros in Nigeria over the last 12 years it has operated in the West African country.

Although most of these investments are loans, Ms Blatmann said, they are concessional loans with low-interest rates; 75 per cent of the investments are loans and 25 per cent are grants.

When asked what she will miss about Nigeria, she said she will not miss pepper soup adding jokingly that Nigerians have tried to kill her several times using pepper.

She noted that she will miss the famous Nigerian jollof rice and moi-moi (made with bean purée).

“I will not miss the ‘wahala’ with airline delays. I will miss the climate, the warmth of the people here, the sense of humour, the dancing,” Ms Blatmann said.

In her final suggestions to Nigeria as ambassador, she registered a frustration she had with Nigeria not being able to take advantage of opportunities, especially one which presented itself when the Russia-Ukraine war started and countries in Europe were looking for alternatives for oil.

Recall that in the wake of the war in Europe, countries like Germany approached Nigeria for oil.

Ms Blatmann revealed to journalists that Nigeria failed to meet up with the demands due to oil theft amongst other issues and lost the opportunity to countries like Algeria.

If Nigeria can solve its security challenges, the outgoing ambassador believes, investors will begin to flock to the country.

Back in France as Director for Africa

At a time when analysts opine that France’s policy in Africa is failing, Ms Blatmann insists that her country’s policy is not failing although a few countries in Africa have fallen out with it.

“France is facing troubles in four or five of 54 countries in Africa, we cannot say because we are having problems…with these countries that are former colonies that have been taken over by military junta… we cannot say the whole of Africa is against France…,” she said.

She also said that she had trouble accepting arguments from some quarters that democracy is not adapted to Africa. “Democracy is perfectly adapted to Africa. It is just the way some leaders in Africa abuse it and then things fall apart.”

Although terrified to take over from Christophe Bigot who she is replacing at the Department of Africa and India Ocean, her previous assignments at this department prepare her for her new job.

She started her career in the same department as desk officer for Southern Africa after which she worked in Central Africa before she proceeded to work as ambassador to Sudan and later Nigeria.

“I guess President Macron thinks that with my experience…, I do have some knowledge…” Ms Blatmann said.

In her new role, she will supervise the activities of France’s missions on the African continent. Ms Blatmann will also be responsible for mending broken fences and consolidating existing relationships on the continent; a move she said President Macron has started across the continent including by accepting the role France played in Algeria.

She acknowledged that France did not do certain things right but it is unfair to blame her country for all the woes in the countries where they are present.

Reacting to allegations that France only has economic interests in Africa, she said Sahel countries account for only 0.1 per cent of France’s foreign trade while Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for two to three per cent.

“So where is the economic plundering we are being accused of?” She asked rhetorically.

“The only place where we mine is in Niger, the uranium which only accounts for 15 per cent. Our biggest partners are Khazakstan and Canada,” Ms Blatmann said.

“We do not depend on the resources of Africa,” she added.

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President Macron is in the second lap of his tenure and is reshuffling his government after an eventful year.

The European country within the week appointed a new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, the youngest and first openly gay person to assume the role.

The country also inaugurated a new minister of foreign affairs, Stephané Séjourné, on Friday.

Ms Blatmann will assume her new post on 15 January.