By Cecilia Ologunagba
New York, Feb. 15, 2023
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cuba with concurrent accreditation to the Bahamas, Honduras and Nicaragua, Benaoyagha Okoyen, has presented his Letters of Credence to the President of the Republic of Honduras, Iris Castro as non-resident Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Central America country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okoyen presented his Letters of Credence to the first female President of the country in Honduras’ capital, Tegucigapla on Tuesday.
Okoyen said he was accompanied by two officials of Nigeria’s Mission in Cuba, Nasir Aliyu and Kayode Sogo to the event.
The Envoy told NAN in New York that, at the event, he extended the congratulatory message of President Muhammadu Buhari to Castro on her election and inauguration in January 2022 as the country’s new President.
“Also, to thank her because I was supposed to present Letters of Credence to the last President, but he didn’t do it until he left power.
“Also, expressed the desire to deepen relationship between two countries, particularly with respect to some of the outstanding agreements.
“Number one of the agreements is visa waiver for diplomatic and official passports and other issues,’’ he said.
Earlier on Monday, Okoyen said he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Honduras, Mr. Eduardo Garcia and discussed in detail all the issues mentioned and presented the copies of these Credentials.
“We also talked about exchange of official visits at ministerial and presidential level,’’ he said.
In response, the Nigerian Envoy said that the President congratulated him on this appointment and expressed strong willingness to deepen the relationship between Nigeria and Honduras.
Okoyen said that she expressed willingness to undertake official exchange of visits and to see to the implementation of all the pending agreements and pledged she would work fast on them.
“Also, that Honduras will continue to stand with Nigeria at the international level,’’ he said.
According to him, ambassadors from three other countries, Switzerland, South Korea and El Salvador also presented their Letters of Credence to the Honduras President at the event.