The Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has said that the partnership between his country and Nigeria is already achieving results as young Nigerian entrepreneurs are working with Israeli and Nigerian mentors to transform ideas into businesses that create thousands of jobs.
The Israeli envoy said this in his remarks during activities to mark the 78th National Day of the State of Israel in Abuja on Monday, stressing that young Nigerians are also making millions of dollars in investment and solving real-world challenges.
He described Nigeria as a country blessed with extraordinary potential, which includes a young population, an entrepreneurial spirit, vast agricultural resources, and an unwavering determination to succeed.
He said, “Across Nigeria, we are already seeing what partnership can achieve. Through the iFAIR program, young Nigerian entrepreneurs are working with Israeli and Nigerian mentors to transform ideas into businesses that create thousands of jobs, millions of dollars of investment, and solve real-world challenges. And I am pleased to announce that we are committing to a fifth cohort of the program for 2027.”
He added that Israeli companies are already working in Nigeria today to increase their investment in the agriculture sector, where Nigerian farmers now grow vegetables from Israeli seedlings, using Israeli technology but grown by Nigerian farmers on Nigerian soil.
“Imagine that success multiplied across Nigeria—higher yields, stronger rural communities, greater food security, and millions upon millions of lives improved,” Freeman added.
The envoy also announced that the first three fully equipped ambulances donated by Israel are on their way to Nigeria, adding that these ambulances will help save lives when every minute counts.
“They are more than vehicles. They are a symbol of partnership. A symbol of what can happen when countries choose cooperation over division and solutions over slogans.
“We are expanding cooperation in innovation, agriculture, healthcare, security, education, and skills development because these are not acts of charity. They are investments in a shared future. The future of Israel–Nigeria relations will not be defined by speeches.
“It will be defined by entrepreneurs who build companies. Farmers, who increase their harvests, doctors and paramedics who save lives and young people who refuse to accept limitations, because when Nigerian ingenuity meets Israeli innovation, extraordinary things happen,” he added.
He said further that his country, despite successive years of hostility from its neighbours, has, for the past 78 years, been making miracles happen—transforming deserts into farmland, scarcity into abundance, ideas into technologies, and challenges into opportunities.
“Israel’s greatest export is the belief that no challenge is too great, no obstacle is insurmountable, and no dream is beyond our reach when people of vision, courage, and determination work together.
“That is the spirit that built Israel. That is the spirit we bring to our partnership with Nigeria. And if the first seventy-eight years are any indication, our greatest contributions to the world, our greatest achievements are still ahead of us,” he added.