{"id":254767,"date":"2026-10-21T15:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/?p=254767"},"modified":"2026-10-21T20:56:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:56:42","slug":"amb-bianca-odumegwu-ojukwu-received-in-audience-dr-kalilou-sylla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/amb-bianca-odumegwu-ojukwu-received-in-audience-dr-kalilou-sylla\/","title":{"rendered":"AMB. BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE, DR. KALILOU SYLLA."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, received in audience Dr Kalilou Sylla Commissioner for Internal Affairs of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">He was sworn in on 1st September this year for the 2026 \u2013 2030 term. He is an Ivorian economist, with more than 38 years of experience in shaping regional economic, agricultural and trade policies, leading institutional reforms, and coordinating regional integration programmes.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">Discussions centered extensively on the visionary changes set in motion by the new leadership of ECOWAS, new cost cutting measures, proposed steps to make the personnel recruitment process more transparent and initiatives to make the impact of the Commission more visibly felt across member states.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">Nigeria continues to serve as the dominant political, economic, and security leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and our core aspirations include driving regional free trade, advancing single-currency and infrastructure goals, defending constitutional order, institutionalizing good governance, and promoting democracy whilst demonstrably resisting military coups across member states.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-254770\" src=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"368\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-1300x867.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/859277630_4093126017654748_3605180510783546439_n.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-254768\" src=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"368\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-1300x867.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/856975004_4093125667654783_6854493484590772123_n.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-254769\" src=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"738\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-1300x867.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/858335775_4093125824321434_8920781682902546454_n.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, received in audience Dr Kalilou Sylla Commissioner &hellip; <a title=\"AMB. BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE, DR. KALILOU SYLLA.\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/amb-bianca-odumegwu-ojukwu-received-in-audience-dr-kalilou-sylla\/\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">AMB. BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU RECEIVED IN AUDIENCE, DR. KALILOU SYLLA.<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hmfa-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254772,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254767\/revisions\/254772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.gov.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}