Onyeama: Ambassadorial appointments based on merit

13 Apr Onyeama: Ambassadorial appointments based on merit

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says persons appointed as ambassadors must have proven track record, experience and professionalism in Foreign Service.

He spoke on Sunday at a send-off dinner in honour of Yakubu Ahmed, Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Qatar.

The minister noted that the appointments of Ahmed — outgoing director of protocol (DOP) at the state house — and other career ambassadors were based on the need to post dedicated and keen Foreign Service practitioners to serve as image-makers of the country.

He said Ahmed is going to head a very important mission in one of the richest countries in the world, hence the need for his appointment.

He said, “Ambassador Yakubu Ahmed is a dedicated professional with a penchant for rigour and detail. He is very capable and one of the best in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is personable, affable, extremely friendly, dispassionate and objective.”

“He is going to head a very important mission, a very important country, reckoned to be one of the richest countries in the world per capita, and there’s a lot we will be doing with the State of Qatar.

“It is a weighty and strategic country and very strategic in that part of the world, and we are putting our best feet forward to advance the interest of our country economically and in other areas.”

The ambassador-designate thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the honour given to him to represent Nigeria in Doha, Qatar, while pledging to deploy his skills to improve existing cordial relationship between the two countries.