Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has urged trainees of the Foreign Service Academy (FSA) to be culturally sensitive in diplomacy to succeed professionally.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu gave the advice during the inauguration of the 174 trainees of the 26th regular course of FSA that started from March to October 2025 at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in Abuja.
The Academy was initially established by the ministry as a Foreign Service Institute through the Cabinet Memorandum in 2006 to strengthen its human and institutional capacities on policy research, analysis and monitoring the efficacy of Kenya’s Foreign Policy.
The institute was later transformed into an Academy in 2017 to offer targeted training opportunities and also better respond to the changing diplomatic landscape.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said, “Every country has its own nuances, its own culture and its own conventions. Those conventions might not be spelt to censor the sayings we abide by here.
“It is very important that this batch of trainees are very culturally sensitive.
“It is one of the very first things they need to do when they get to their countries of accreditation and posting.”
The minister urged the trainees to take advantage of the specialised training programme to prepare themselves for the onerous tasks ahead of them.
She stated that such would teach them how to be exemplary diplomats and to abide by best practices, in line with international standards of diplomacy.
According to her, it will also enable them to serve their country, not just passionately but professionally.
Highpoint of event was remarks by Dr Dunoma Ahmed, Permanent-Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Fatima Mahmod, Permanent-Secretary, Career Management Office who represented the Head of Service.
Also, were Amb. Musa Abubakar, Director of Training of Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), represented the Director-General of the agency and Dr Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo, Administrator/Chief Executive Officer of PSIN.
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