President Muhammadu Buhari has conferred the title of Ambassador-in-Situ to one hundred and fifteen foreign officers for their contributions to the nation’s development and economy.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, presented the letters of conferment on behalf of the president to serving officers who have attained the rank of deputy director on Friday.

Mr Onyeama said Mr Buhari was recognising and honouring the foreign service officers for their sacrifices, hard work and their role in attracting foreign investments to grow the nation’s economy.

He said that with their efforts in galvanising Nigeria’s foreign policy and diplomacy, Nigeria has excellent relations and is at peace with every country of the world. 

“It is a recognition of work done and achieved. Some of those who were honoured today are serving foreign officers, others are retired.

“So Mr President has decided to recognise all those who have attained a certain level in service, notwithstanding the fact that they are retired and also confer on them the title of Ambassador-in-situ.

“The role you play in consular services, looking after the interest of individual Nigerians around the world.

“And I always tell people, one aspect of our foreign policy and diplomacy that a lot of people take for granted and do not appreciate sufficiently is the fact that we have excellent relations with every single country on Earth,” Mr Onyeama said.

The newly appointed ambassadors appreciated the president for the recognition, which they said, will spur them to do more in projecting the good image of Nigeria.

Kabiru Musa, current Charge D’affaires, Nigerian Embassy in Libya, said this will deepen collaborations with host countries and facilitate engagements with Nigeria, especially in security and economic development.

Mr Musa who also gave the vote of thanks on behalf of other recipients assured that they will give their all to deliver on the foreign policy thrust of the government, and the core mandates of the Ministry.          

“We have a lot of youth that are unemployed, so this is a good opportunity for us to work harder, and make sure that we get the necessary investors that will be interested in coming into Nigeria.

“We will also seek partnership and cooperation from the outside world those that have experience and expertise, especially in the fight against insecurity that we are facing in the country.

“We have citizen diplomacy, which means taking care of our brothers and sisters outside, so we are there for them,” Mr Musa said. 

Amb. Ibiyemi Ajiboye-Roberts pledged to use her position to ensure Nigerians get better treatment in the diaspora.

Amb. Saidu Dahiru-Monhammed said the Nigerian state has done a lot globally, especially with a foreign policy centred on Africa, pledging commitments to make Nigeria’s foreign policy to be at par with developed countries.

(NAN)