The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru has reassured that the Nigeria Consulate in San Francisco, California will be reopened next year. Ashiru gave the assurance on Wednesday night at a town hall meeting with Nigerians in the Diaspora during his first official visit to the Nigeria embassy in Washington D.C.
“By next year we will reopen the consulate in San Francisco; lucky enough we have a building there owned by the federal government. I have already told the ambassador to renovate the property in time for reopening of the consulate,’’ he said.
The consulate in San Francisco was closed in the 80s because of rationalisation of foreign missions carried out by the then government. The Minister also informed the gathering that foreign mission and consulates are being repositioned for effective service.
He stressed the need for Foreign Service officers to spend “more time with investors’’ with a view to attracting more investment to Nigeria. “The first priority is to take care of Nigerians resident in their host country, we believe that Nigerians deserve the best and they should be so treated,’’ he said, adding that “foreign policy must be relevant to the ordinary people.”