Diplomatic Service In Nigeria Case Study

Introduction The Nigerian diplomatic service was established by the Tafawa Balewa-led federal government in 1957, three years before Nigeria’s independence, to prepare the nation for its foreign representation after independence. ( Orjiako, 2010:96) It started as the External Affairs division of the Prime Minister’s office, under the supervision of a British colonial official, Mr. E. K. Williams. (Fafowora, 2008). As Brownlie (1980:348) has rightly observed, all independent states have the legal capacity to establish diplomatic relations. This probably explains the fact that one of the first sovereign acts of most states that gained independence after the Second World War, including Nigeria, was membership of the United Nations

The officers were recruited by the Federal Public Service Commission through the Federal, Eastern, Northern and Western Regional Public Services. According to Nwosu (1991:154), five of these officers came from the public service of the federation, two each came from the public service of the three Regions and one was a fresh graduate from the Oxford University. Regional Governments were also invited by the Federal Government to recommend officers from their various public services that might be willing to accept secondment into the Foreign Service and later transfer their services to the Federal Public Service (House of Representatives Sessional Paper No. 11 of 1956). According to Jolaoso (1991:11-13), the pioneer foreign service staff were: Omotayo Ogunsulire, Dickson Igwe, Philip Asiodu, Leslie Harriman, Adedokun Haastrup, Aminu Sanusi, Soji Williams, John Mamman Garba, Chike Chukwurah, Chukwuemeka Ifeagwu, Olumide Omololu, John Ukegbu, Olujimi Jolaoso, Olusola Sanu, Victor Adegoroye, Edward Enahoro, Sule Kolo, Ignatius Olisemeka and George Dove-Edwin (Azuh,2011; Jolaoso,1991:11-13;