The United States government has recalled its ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, as part of a sweeping diplomatic overhaul affecting dozens of foreign missions, with Africa at the centre of the changes.
Officials from the US State Department said the decision is part of a broader review of ambassadorial postings inherited from the previous administration, stressing that the affected diplomats remain members of the foreign service.
Nigeria is among 15 African countries impacted by the recall exercise, alongside Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.
State Department officials explained that the changes took effect on Wednesday, when several chiefs of mission received notifications from Washington, DC, that their tenures would end in January.
They clarified that the recalled ambassadors were not dismissed and could return to Washington for other assignments, noting that ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president and typically have terms of three to four years.
Beyond Africa, the recall also affected US envoys in Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia in Europe, and Guatemala and Suriname in the Western Hemisphere.
All the ambassadors were appointed during the Joe Biden administration and had initially remained in office after President Donald Trump’s second term began, surviving an early round of removals that largely targeted political appointees.
A State Department spokesperson described the development as a routine administrative measure, saying,
“An ambassador is a personal representative of the president, and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”
Mills, who was confirmed as US ambassador to Nigeria in May 2023, had last week met Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, to discuss bilateral cooperation, following comments by US Congressman Riley Moore that both countries were close to finalising a “strategic security framework” to address terrorism.
