Nigeria: Switzerland Reopens Consulate Office In Lagos After 55 years

After 55 Yrs, Switzerland Reopens Consulate Office In Lagos. Fifty-five years after it shut its consulate-general office in Nigeria, the Swiss government inaugurated a new office in Lagos late Tuesday. Declaring the office open, Didier Burkhalter, Switzerland’s federal counselor, and head of foreign affairs, said the Nigerian office is the second in Sub-Saharan Africa. “The opening of this second consulate-general of Switzerland in Sub-Saharan Africa, after Cape Town, marks a very special day for us,” he said. “Switzerland is officially returning to the place where its long-standing friendship with Nigeria started 55 years ago: the exciting city of Lagos! “Ever since the opening of our embassy, Nigeria has been at the heart of our foreign policy on Africa.” He said Nigeria has not lost her importance in his country’s foreign policy. Burkhalter also said the economic significance of Nigeria could not be “overstated”, adding that it was “one of the main reasons” that th...