Long before Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu became Ambassador, Minister, and now Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, I had the privilege of accompanying her around the world as she represented our country on the global beauty stage.
In those years, she was without exaggeration one of the most beautiful women on earth. Also the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Miss Intercontinental—a face that carried Nigeria’s elegance into every room she entered.
But what I saw then was not just beauty. It was poise. Intelligence. Grace under pressure. The unmistakable presence of a woman destined to serve.
The years have only confirmed it. From her distinguished service as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain and to Italy, to her tenure as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca has carried herself with the same dignity that defined her on the world stage decades ago; except now, the stage is diplomacy, and the audience is the entire international community.
Today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has elevated her to Minister of Foreign Affairs. Congratulations, Mr. President, on a truly excellent appointment. Nigeria’s foreign policy is in safe, capable, and elegant hands.
And I will say this without hesitation: I believe Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu will, in time, become the first elected female governor in Nigeria’s history. The trajectory is unmistakable. The country will be the better for it.
To my dear sister Bianca, the world has always looked up to you. Now it must listen to you.
VDCInsights reports that until her elevation as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb.Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs.
The new Minister of Foreign Affairs was a former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure and distinguished herself as a right fit for the assignment.
The cerebral, former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, and a lawyer by training, has very good experience to serve in that capacity -as a former Nigeria Ambassador, plus her profile as a well travelled personality.
When she came on board in 2024 after her screening by the Senate she told journalists: “The President has actually made things much easier by building the foreign policy thrust of his administration. The 4Ds comprise of democracy, development, demographic engagement, and diaspora collaboration.”
She said, “We must leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area to harness our economic potentials,” adding “we have a huge youth population in Nigeria. 70 percent of the population is under the age of 43, so that’s a huge demographic.”
According to her “We intend in this administration to leverage on the creative potentials, on the skills on the huge capital that these young people have to bring to the country, and of course the diaspora.“
One of the issues she promised to tackle then was ensuring that consular services abroad are much more effective, and Nigerians abroad are much happier with what they are receiving, and have that sense of feeling that their government truly cares for their welfare.
Ben Murray-Bruce
