FG Deploys 350 Foreign Service Officers to Missions

By Olawale Ajimotokan

The federal government has deployed 350 Foreign Service Officers to Nigeria’s missions abroad.

Speaking yesterday during their induction ceremony in Abuja, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, admonished them to change the narratives about the country.

“You are going to represent this country. A lot of the narratives are not always positive about our country, and very often, about our ministry. So, you have huge responsibility on your shoulders. You are going out to represent Nigeria during very difficult days. These are very difficult days for our country.

“And sometimes, I worry for your generation because you are faced with huge challenges within the country and outside the country. And as the best brains that we have, it will now rest on your shoulders to transform the narratives, to transform the narratives about Nigeria, to transform the narratives about our ministry, to transform the narratives about our missions.”

‘’ Every day you go on social media, these days, I am afraid even to go on social media – if it is not one video clip or the other about the mission, or the ministry or one thing or the other. So, let’s try and turn this around,” Onyeama said.

The minister noted that around the world, Nigerian embassies and Nigerian diplomats were highly regarded in the multilateral sectors, particularly at the United Nations and others as evident in the positions Nigerians were getting.

He recalled the recent appointment of a Nigerian as the Deputy Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration, saying that the appointment showed the caliber of people Nigeria had.

Onyeama also disclosed that a lot of the resolutions that the United Nations are making were sponsored by Nigeria in Geneva, in New York and in Vienna.

“Our ambassador to Vienna was just recruited to become the representative in New York of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, we have everything it takes,” he added.

The minister also reminded the diplomats of the current economic hardship in the country but said that the government was working out ways to make it easier for the diplomats to operate outside the country.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, stressed that posting and indeed, foreign service was not only a rare privilege but also a call to service to the nation