All over the world, countries are benefitting largely from the recent utilisation of the privileges of global mediascapes and digital technologies for the reinforcement of their international image, articulation of their foreign policies and a consolidation of their positions in the comity of nations, as the preferred destination for not only tourist and economic activities but also as major ideological enclaves for negotiating the world's power structures. This is why perceptive governments have invested massively in satellite televisions and cable channels, together with the internet and other electronic spaces to affirm the robustness of their democratic experimentations, their desire for tactical alliances with other nations and their own relevance to the trajectories of world events.

This reality has not, however, always been so, as nations have hitherto always relied on skilled legates who represent their interests and aspirations, and if need be, constantly see to the sometime urgent task of rehabilitating their image, on the world scene. Such envoys work in other countries to establish strategic collaborations and mutual cooperativeness which almost always foster reciprocated benefits and world peace for their home countries and other partner and friendly nations. This is so crucial a task that Daisaku Ikeda observes that "history is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skilful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom." Diplomats therefore become the custodian of the repertoire of wisdom for international cooperation and national well-being.

To bring it closer home, imagine, for instance, that Nigeria had no representatives in countries abroad, and decisions regarding the nation were left at the mercy of foreign forces, impervious to its national interests and hostile to its citizens, then we are immediately faced with the full implication of the invidious absence of international secular intercessors who could have salvaged strategic advantages for the country through the deployment of refined tact. Thankfully, the country's march towards development and a virile national growth bears the necessary signature and imprints of well-trained diplomats-intellectuals who have safely steered the nation's vessel on the often dangerous coasts of international relations. For me, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and Chief Emeka Anyaoku represent an unusual trio of committed Nigerian mediators on the global stage. They are unusual because each brings to his duties a sense of responsibility obviously derived from the strict discipline of intellectual rigour. In other words, they typify how the country's history and evolution as a state are undergirded by the deeply nuanced insights of patriotic statesmen whose transnational activities on behalf of the nation have steadied its journey to development and greater international relevance.

When we call to mind the enormity of the task of retooling and redirecting the national project in Nigeria, we cannot but fail to see the urgency of committing to it all we have got. When human capital development becomes the first law in any blueprint for sustainable development in a country, intellectuals invariably play a pivotal role in defining its path to greatness. And, an unenviable dimension of that role concerns convincing other nations of Nigeria's strategic significance in the world. In other words, we find in Gambari, Anyaolu and Akinyemi scholars whose voices help to give direction and purpose to Nigeria's internal and external efforts to achieve its (inter)national goals. Rethinking the national project therefore isn't the sole preserve of statesmen, politicians and intellectuals that we have been celebrating hitherto. There is also an external/international dimension that necessitates the insertion of patriotic legates and their diplomatic acumen as significant contributions to its direction and configuration.

In Professor Gambari, a former Visiting Professor to John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and former Director General of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, we find an instance of how academic erudition conspires with pragmatic skills in foreign policy and relations to help achieve the realignment of the Nigerian dream in terms of Nigeria's strategic alliances with other nations. A former External Affairs Minister, Professor Gambari provides much inspiration for many to seize the pluses offered by the unfettered marketplaces of ideas and critical intellections in the service of the Nigerian project. The Kwara-born academic who was appointed by the UN Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur in 2010, has also been recently appointed the pioneering Chancellor of the newly established KWASU, a university which hopes to utilise Gambari's and other reputed scholars' vast intellectual capital to advance education in Kwara State.

The need to erect the development ambitions of a state on the foundation of sound intellectual ideals and an unswerving commitment to the state's objectives and its foreign policies locks Gambari and Professor Akinyemi in the same legation mould. Akinyemi succeeded Professor Gambari as the Director General of the famed Nigerian Institute for International Affairs. What is most striking about Professor Akinyemi's work as Nigeria's former Minister of External Affairs is the innovative bent of his commitment. The Technical Aid Corps (TAC), his programmatic idea, was initiated to foster the spirit of volunteerism and patriotism in Nigerian professionals expected to promote national development and the country's image abroad. In Akinyemi, therefore, we confront the axiom that ideas generate insights that propels development efforts anywhere. For instance, Nigeria's space and nuclear programme, which has become robust and intensified recently, received one of its earliest advocacies as far back as 1987 when Prof. Akinyemi averred that the country "has a sacred responsibility to challenge the racial monopoly of nuclear weapons." Such statements could only emanate from emissaries with uncanny insights for identifying the often hidden details in the development dynamics of a nation.

Chief Anyaoku's reputation as the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth remains an unrivalled colossal testament to diplomatic diligence. Anyaoku's skills were his capacity to weave intellectual insights into national advocacy and behind-the-scene diplomatic initiatives. Having previously worked in various positions in the Commonwealth and as Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Anyaoku, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kuala Lumpur in 1989, was elected the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. He worked tirelessly to advance commonwealth agendas and initiatives, and was re-elected for a second five-year term at the 1993 CHOGM in Limassol, and after retirement, he continues to animate diplomatic circles with his robust understanding of international relations and politics. In a time when statesmen and politicians are everywhere sullied by scandals and the thirst for material advancement, Chief Anyaoku's long years at the Commonwealth secretariat has yielded a repertoire of delegable insights and acumen Nigeria can always invest in. An emissary's work doesn't end outside the borders of the state or outside the ambit of the official appointment.

For Walter Bagehot, the British economist, "an ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle;" and as such, s/he becomes the centre and cynosure of national being and development. Our own three scholar-diplomats served the nation as dependable and selfless agents who have passionately enunciated the paradigms of the Nigeria project both at home and abroad. As spectacles, they have withstood the often hostile global gaze at Nigeria's possibilities as a developing nation while labouring assiduously to also project the nation's contribution to world peace and cooperation.

• Dr. Olaopa is Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja.