By The New Diplomat’s Diplomatic Desk
The appointment of eminent diplomat, distinguished consensus-builder, former Nigeria’s foreign Affairs Minister, and Columbia University educated foremost international relations scholar-diplomat with compelling resume and excellent background, Professor Agboola Ibrahim Gambari, as the new chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari has been described as the best key appointment Buhari has made since 2015.
Professor Gambari is an accomplished scholar, profound team leader as well as an immensely talented team player with riveting profundity of thoughts and world class insights into the workings of public policy, public administration, governance and global diplomacy. Professor Gambari, who once testified to president Buhari’s democratic credentials was born in Nigeria in 1944.
Read also: Gambari: Profile Of A Distinguished Consensus Builder And Foremost Diplomat-Scholar…
He attended Kings College, Lagos, as well as the London School of Economics, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science, with a specialty in international relations. He earned his Master of Arts in 1970 and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1974 in political science/international relations from Columbia University in New York, United States.
He had previously served Nigeria auditably as Director-General at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Minister of External Affairs (1984-1985) and subsequently Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (1990-1999).
From 1969 through 1983, Gambari held a variety of teaching posts, beginning at the City University of New York, then at the State University of New York in Albany, and later at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. He was Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University in Zaria, where he founded the first undergraduate programme in international studies in Nigeria. He was a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University and Howard University (1986-1989).
In recognition of a distinguished career as a scholar-diplomat, the University of Bridgeport ( United States) awarded Gambari the Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honoris causa — 2002); the prestigious Johns Hopkins University elected him to membership of the University’s Society of Scholars (2002); and the Government of Nigeria awarded him the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic(CFR).
Prior to serving as United Nations Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Political Affairs, Gambari held the position of Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa. In that capacity, his functions included promoting United Nations and international support for African development, in general, and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). In that capacity, he creditably set up the Nigerian Office of NEPAD and replicated same in other jurisdictions. Under the NEPAD focal point. Gambari later served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola, from September 2002 to February 2003.
In March, 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Gambari of Nigeria as his Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues. The appointment is at the Under-Secretary-General level. During the period, he also operated as UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. On 22 May 2007, the Secretary-General entrusted him with the Good Offices Mandate on Myanmar. He was also appointed in 2007 by the Secretary-General as Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Iraq Compact and Other Issues, positions he held until 2009.
He also served as a delegate at the 2014 National Conference on the restructuring and promotion of national unity in Nigeria. At the international level, Professor Gambari held numerous United Nations positions, including Chairman of the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and the UNSG’s Special Adviser on Africa. Professor Gambari also served as Joint AU/UN Special Representative in Darfur and Head of UNAMID, which was then the largest international peacekeeping operation in the world and the first hybrid Mission.
He had in different capacities, worked with four successive United Nations Secretary-General (Perez de Cuella, Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon). He currently co-chairs the commission on Global Security, Justice and Governance at the Hague Institute for Global Justice and the Stimson Centre at Washington D.C. In January, 2017, he was appointed a member and is currently Deputy Chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Persons of African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a Specialized Agency of the African Union for the promotion of good governance at the political, economic and corporate levels.
In the same vein, he was appointed in 2016 by Patricia Scotland, QC, the Commonwealth Secretary General as the Special Envoy to Zambia on Elections and reappointed in 2017 as the Special Envoy for Democratic Stability and Elections 2020. In addition, he is a member of the Senior Working Group (SWG) of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). Also in May, 2017, he was honoured with the Global Leadership Award by the University of South Florida, USA.
A recipient of the third highest national honour, Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR), Ambassador Gambari has also been awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) form the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut (2002) and Farleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey (2006). Others include: Honorary Doctorate of Public Service, Chatham University (May 2008) and Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), University of Ibadan, Nigeria (November 2011).
He has also received the Special Recognition for International Development and Diplomacy Award conferred by the Africa-America Institute (September 2007), the Distinguished (Foreign) Service Award by the Federal Government of Nigeria (April 2008), the International House Harry Edmonds Award for Lifetime Achievement, New York (May 2009) and the Campaign Against Genocide Medal by the Republic of Rwanda (July 2010).
Ambassador Gambari received South Africa’s highest national honour conferred on non-citizens, the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo, which was conferred on him personally by President Jacob Zuma on 26 October 2012. Professor Gambari was elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars in 2002 and has since 2005 served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance at Africa University, Zimbabwe. He was appointed as First Chancellor, Kwara State University in Nigeria, March 2013.
Gambari’s recent appointment as the Chief of Staff to President MohammaduBuhari promises to bring expansive vigour to a government otherwise described by some pundits as lack lustre. Gambari can be summarized as enigmatic; his pedigree no less of an epoch of meritorious and outstanding service. Nigeria would no doubt look to springboard off his vast multilateral base and win herself back to the frontline of the comity of nations.
As a consensus builder, Gambari is indeed best suited to fill the yawning gap of the desperately needed centrifugal forces within the Nigerian presidency needed to help pool together a country sauntering dangerously towards the brinks of ethnic and religious division.
