From last week, continues the  narrative on the appointments of Nigerian ambassadors over the years, beginning with the first set or  pioneer ambassadors which included  Chief Jaja Wachuku 

Chief Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku  (1 January 1918 – 7 November 1996) was a Pan-Africanist and a statesman, lawyer, politician, diplomat and humanitarian. He was the first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, as well as the first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Also, Wachuku was the first Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Notably, Wachuku was a Royal Prince of Ngwaland, “descendant of 20 generations of African chiefs in the South-East”. He was elected to the Senate in 1979 on the platform of NPP and became the leader of the NPP in the Senate. He later became the Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. During the period, I became his friend. Senator Nwachukwu had a lot of political experience. 

From 1960 to 1961, Wachuku served as first Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York, as well as Federal Minister for Economic Development. He hoisted Nigeria’s flag as the 99th member of the United Nations on October 7, 1960. Accordingly, Wachuku was instrumental to Nigeria becoming the 58th Member State of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, on Monday November 14, 1960. Also, as First Ambassador of Nigeria to the United Nations, Wachuku represented the country at the independence celebrations of Tanganyika – now known as United Republic of Tanzania.

 At the United Nations, with support from UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, the member nations elected Wachuku the first African to chair a United Nations Conciliation Commission, making him Chairman of the Conciliation Commission for the Congo from January to March 1961. Initial proposal and nomination of Wachuku to be mediator in Congo came from Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium, to which “Wachuku responded favourably on condition that U Thant, Cyrille Adoula and Moïse Tshombe agree.”

Chief Simeon Olaosebikan Adebo (October 4, 1913 – September 30, 1994)  had his secondary education at King’s College, Lagos in 1932 and studied law at London School of Economics, where upon graduation he was admitted to the bar. Chief Adebo worked at the Federal Ministry of Finance and in 1961 became head of the Civil Service and Chief Secretary to the Government of then Western Region. He was appointed Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations from 1962 to 1967 and as United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive General of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research until 1972.

After the end of the Nigerian civil war, Nigerian Head of State General Yakubu Gowon(90) instituted a commission to review wages and salaries of Nigerian workers and to look into means of ameliorating the economic conditions of workers; the importance of the commission was due to the rise in cost of living as a result of uncontrollable inflation during the civil war.

Simeon Adebo was called to head the commission which later became known as the Adebo Commission. Workers who had demanded wage increases were happy for the choice of Chief Adebo. He was seen as an apolitical administrator who could look thoroughly into workers plight and investigate the concerns of workers in the civil and private sector. An earlier government review of wages, which called for wage increases in 1964 had been followed by the private sector.

In its first report, the Commission, under Chief Adebo, recommended a COLA or Cost of Living Award for all workers, ranging from $10 increases to $24. 

To be concluded