The government of the United Kingdom (UK) has appointed Mr Jonny Baxter as the new Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Lagos, taking over from Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones OBE who has returned to the UK after completing three years as the DHC.
According to a statement issued on Monday by the Senior Press & Public Affairs Officer of the UK Mission in Lagos, Ndidiamaka Eze, Jonny arrived in Lagos last weekend and looks forward to meeting members of the diplomatic press corps and other stakeholders.
According to the statement, Jonny is an experienced diplomat who has worked in different parts of the world. Prior to becoming the British Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Lagos, he served as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan from January 2021-July 2023 and Deputy Director, Finance and Performance Department at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office – FCDO (then DFID) from 2018-2020.
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He has held various senior positions in the Department of International Development (DFID). These included running the Human Development Department from 2017-2018, Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State from 2014-2016, and head of the Higher Education Task Force Secretariat from 2013-2014 all at the DFID Headquarters, London.
Prior to these roles Jonny did postings in Sudan, Iraq, Guyana and Tanzania, the statement added.
To mark his arrival, Jonny Baxter said, ‘I am excited about this new role and I look forward to working with the people of this great country, including those in government, in the private sector and in civil society, to do all I can to help build a more prosperous Nigeria and strengthen the already impressive partnerships between the people and institutions of both our countries.’
In another report, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has said that over £38 million of UK humanitarian assistance has saved the lives of vulnerable, conflict-affected people in North-East Nigeria – including women and girls.
The Foreign Secretary made these remarks whilst visiting the UN’s Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in Abuja, where he viewed a UNHAS plane and met a UNHAS pilot and other UNHAS staff, a statement issued by the British High Commission in Abuja said.
The UN estimates that over 8 million people in North-East Nigeria urgently require life-saving humanitarian assistance due to protracted conflict and crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region.