EMBAIXADOR

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nigeria to Brazil. Mr. Vincent A. Okoedion, Esq

Amb. V. A. Okoedion is Coordinating Director, Department of Planning, Research and Statistics, (PRS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja. He obtained a B.A. (English) University of Ife and an LLB (second class upper Division), from Delhi University, New Delhi, India. Amb. Okoedion is a Solicitor and Advocate, Supreme Court of Nigeria. In 1999, he participated in a course for government Law officers at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos. As a European Commission scholar from 2006 – 2007, he obtained a post graduate diploma in International Economic Law from the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, The Netherlands.

From 1998 to 2001, the officer was Assistant Director/Head, Legal and Treaties Division. In this capacity, he undertook litigations for the Ministry and commenced work on a consular policy on Nigerians abroad. The policy provided the conceptual framework for the conclusion of treaties on the treatment of Nigerians abroad and an anchor for citizen diplomacy which became the thrust of Nigeria’s foreign policy from 2007. The Agreements made provisions for the protection of persons trafficked from Nigeria and secured rights for Nigerians resident in EU countries including Italy, Spain, Ireland and Benelux States.

The officer’s competence in international trade law and capacity building is as result of his specialization in WTO Law. WTO rules provide the guidelines for trade policy formulation at the national and regional levels. The rules include provisions on market access, most-favoured nation treatment, subsides, special and differential treatment, regional integration and dispute settlement. The poor performance of developing countries in trade and other negotiations has been attributed to shortage of officials who are familiar with the rules. His familiarity with WTO rules has made Amb. Okoedion one of the outstanding officers in the foreign policy area of economic diplomacy.

While serving at the Mission in Brussels, from 2001 to 2007, the officer acquired expertise in negotiation especially trade negotiations with the European Commission. He covered the activities of the important ACP-EU Ministerial Development Finance Committee (DFC) which allocates and monitors the use of the financial resources of the European Development Fund (EDF) given as Official Development Assistance (ODA) to ACP States.

Amb. Okoedion played active roles in WTO negotiations in Cancun (Mexico) in 2003 and the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO held in Hong Kong in December 2005. He has been involved in the negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) from the commencement of the negotiations in September 2002. The EPAs are the negotiations on new trading arrangements between the European Commission and the six ACP regional groupings including ECOWAS.

As Director (PRS) from March 2010, Amb. Okoedion has brought his legal training to bear on his responsibilities. The PRS Dept. provides in-house consultancy services for the Ministry particularly in the area of setting and improving on strategies to achieve Nigeria’s foreign policy goals enshrined in Section 19 of the 1999 Constitution. The Department conducts practical policy-oriented researches into foreign policy topical issues. The Department now has a Policy Planning Division which functions as a think-tank and prepares speeches, lectures and policy papers as well as draft position papers that are submitted to the Policy Planning Committee (PPC) and the Crisis Management Committee (CMC). The two Committees are chaired by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs. The membership includes all the senior Directors. The activities of the think-tank unit have enabled the Ministry to respond to crisis situations with international connotations and magnitude.

Amb. Okoedion writes poetry in pidgin English. Some of his poems have been published in “Anthology of Nigerian New Writing” edited by Cyprian Ekwensi.