Foreign Affairs ministry gets new permanent secretary

Dr Anthonia Ekpa has assumed office as the new Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A statement by the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye, said Ekpa’s deployment followed the retirement of the immediate past Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Mustapha Lawal Sulaiman after 35 years in the Federal Civil Service.

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Dr Ekpa obtained Bachelor of Arts in English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar in 1987.

She also holds a Master of Arts in English Language with PhD grade from the University of Ibadan 1992, Master of Science in Governance and Development Management, from the University of Birmingham, England, United Kingdom in 2002 and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in English Language from the University of Ibadan in 2005.

Until her appointment, she was the Director, Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration, Federal Ministry of Transportation.

She had also worked in different capacities in the Reforms of the Nigerian Public Service.

She also has a wide professional background as an academic, having taught in two Universities in Nigeria–University of Calabar and University of Abuja as well as in England, United Kingdom, where she took up teaching in some schools including the Bornville College Birmingham.

Her specialization in the academic discipline is English Language, with focus on Sociolinguistics, Stylistics, Discourse analysis, Communication Arts and Teaching of English as a second Language.