The newly appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Adamu Ibrahim Lamuwa has assumed office on Tuesday, 30th May, 2023. Lamuwa who was received in the Ministry by a large retinue of Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff made up of Ambassadors, Directors, Deputy Directors as well as retired Ambassadors promised to effect a drastic change in the way affairs are conducted in the Ministry.
In his chat with press men, Lamuwa disclosed that unity will be the main purpose of his engagement with the staff of the ministry. His words: “We are going to have a collective decision making process, we are going to restore policy planning committee”.
He further reiterated his determination to make a difference in the way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is perceived by the public. He said: “What you will expect to see is a departure from the norm, where we used to have complaints about the Foreign Affairs ministry, we are going to change things in such a way that the ministry will be better”. The new Permanent Secretary is a Career Foreign Service Officer, who joined the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1993. Before his appointment, he was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal (May 2021 – May, 2023) with concurrent accreditation to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
In the course of his career, Amb. Lamuwa served in a number of Nigerian Missions abroad, including the Consulate General of Nigeria, Hong Kong (October 1998 – September 2000); Nigerian High Commission, Ottawa, Canada (February 2003 – March 2007); Consulate General of Nigeria, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( October 2010 – July 2014); and as Charge d’Affaires en titre at the Embassy of Nigeria, Damascus, Syria (June 2016 – May 2021), from there he was appointed Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal.
The new Permanent Secretary has also served in various offices in the Ministry, including Trade and Investment Division; Planning, Research and Statistics Department; as well as the Second United Nations Division.
Furthermore, Ambassador Lamuwa served in various capacities at the State House. He was a Special Assistant to the Principal Secretary to the immediate past President from October 2016 – May 2021. He held the position of Deputy Director, State House Protocol from August 2014 – May 2016.
Ambassador Lamuwa is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, where he obtained B.Sc (Hons) Degree in Economics (1991); He has a Master’s Degree in Economic Policy and Management from the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Dakar, Senegal in 2009.
Ambassador Lamuwa is happily married with children.
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