A former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, is dead.
Ashiru, who was Nigeria,s Foreign Affairs Minister from 2011 to 2013, died in South Africa at the age of 66, after a protracted illness.
The fulcrum of his tenure in the foreign affairs ministry was known the need to increase awareness about Nigeria’s economic potential.
He also spearheaded what is termed citizen diplomacy emphasis is placed on the treatment of Nigerians abroad.
In 2013, he ordered the repatriation of some South African citizens in retaliation of the ill treatment meted out on some Nigerians on account of not possessing the yellow fever vaccine card before arriving in South Africa.
Before his appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister, the late Olugbenga Ashiru was Nigeria’s envoy to the United Kingdom, Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea, South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho and Swaziland.
