President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expanded the list of ambassadorial nominees with several prominent new names, including a former military service chief and a former state first lady.
The latest nominees, announced in a letter read to the Senate on Thursday, are Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, the immediate-past Sole Administrator of Rivers State and former Chief of Naval Staff, Chioma Ohakim, former First Lady of Imo State, Abdulrahman Dambazau, former Minister of Interior and former Chief of Army Staff, and Ita Enang, a former Senator.
These names were absent from an earlier batch of nominees released by the presidency. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who read the letter, said President Tinubu urged swift consideration of the nominees to fill critical diplomatic vacancies.
The list has been forwarded to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for screening, with a directive to report back within one week.
The new nominees join previously announced figures such as former INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, ex-presidential aide Reno Omokri, and former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
