Ambassador Onafowokan endorses new book on diplomacy

A new book that documents the activities of Nigerians and the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana and other West African countries recently received the endorsement of the outgoing Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Oluseyi Onafowokan.

Titled Nigeria's Diplomacy in Perspective: Issues, People And Ties in West Africa, the book written by Ajayi Oluwapelumi Tobi has been described by the High Commissioner as an insightful piece of journalistic work that has recorded happenings of history for prosperity towards fostering Nigeria-Ghana relations.

"The reports, as vast and as varied as they are, when carefully sifted aggregate into the Nigerian story in Ghana. Carefully distilled, they tell of how we fare as people in a foreign land,” said Ambassador Onafowokan.

While adjudging it as "a gauge of the temper and tempo of the diplomatic issues that affect the sub- region at large in the last four years, particularly at the official level of ECOWAS," Onafowokan expressed firm faith in the book’s potential to impact positively on Nigeria-Ghana relations and the entire ECOWAS citizens.

He also avowed that the teeming Nigerian students who constantly journey to Ghana to study in the country's tertiary institutions will find the book useful “as a sort of Student Companion, as the reports will give them a good orientation of their host country vis-à-vis the pertinent challenges, the socio-cultural disparity and the economic ramifications that they would need to adjust to in order to have a peaceful and purposeful sojourn in Ghana.”

The 400-page book is a fusion of features and news stories with complementary photos of events across five West African countries of The Gambia, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic and Senegal covered by the author. The reportage gives special emphasis to Nigerians in the socio-economic, political and cultural spheres of the West African sub-region.

It also spotlights students and trade union groups. A number of Nigerian High Commissioners in the countries as well as the larger activities of Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also documented.

The author, Ajayi Oluwapelumi Tobi, a Nigerian journalist who writes regularly for The Nigerian Tribune under the byline Ajayi Oluwapelumi, is renowned for his keen interest in reporting diplomatic issues among African countries with a particular bias for Nigerians and Nigerian missions in diaspora.

Most of the reports in the compilation have earlier been published in The Tribune. His effort has so far received supports from the Nigerian community in Ghana namely the Nigeria High Commission, Ghana, Nigeria High Commissioner to benin Republic, Ambassador Lawrence Obisakin PhD, Regency Alliance Insurance Ghana, Accra Institute of Technology, Accra, City Lights Ghana, Go Express, J.A. Plant Pool and a host of other individuals and groups.

The first edition of the hard copy and the digital version of the book are due for release in October.