AMBASSADOR USMAN SARKI

Ambassador Usman Sarki was born on 27th December, 1959 in Maiduguri, Borno State of Nigeria. He is a retired career diplomat of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who was involved in the crafting and execution of his country’s foreign policy. He attended Mafoni Primary School and Yerwa Government Secondary School, Maiduguri. For his higher education, he attended the School of Basic Studies (SBS) in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1977. He graduated from the same University in 1981 with Bachelor of Arts (Combined Honours) Degree in History and Political Science. He also attended the University of Lagos where he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Law in 1985. Ambassador Sarki also attended several courses of professional nature in Geneva, Switzerland and Nigeria.

Ambassador Sarki performed his National Youth Service (NYSC) in Jalingo, in the former Gongola State in 1981. Thereafter, he was recruited into the Nigerian Foreign Service in1982 and held various offices in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in Nigerian Missions in Australia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the United States of America. Ambassador Sarki was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 2012 by His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, and posted to the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York, as Deputy Permanent Representative. He served in that capacity until 2016.

Upon retirement in August 2017, he was appointed as a Directing Staff in Nigeria’s apex think-tank, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in which capacity he served between 2019 and 2021. Ambassador Sarki’s career highlights consisted largely of policy and programmes development at the United Nations and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As Deputy Permanent Representative in New York, he was engaged in numerous processes in the United Nations that included leading the African Group in the negotiation and adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015. He also led the African Group in the negotiations at the Third United Nations Conference on Financing for Development (UNCFFD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2015. He also led the African Group in the negotiation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in Trinidad and Tobago and Senegal.

Ambassador Sarki represented Nigeria in the United Nations Security Council during the country’s tenure in 2014-2015 as non-permanent member. In that capacity, Ambassador Sarki toured several countries to discuss with the leaderships on matters before the Security Council concerning those countries. These included Mali, Haiti, Central African Republic, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Kenya, Sri Kanka and others. He also attended high-level meetings on the reform of the Security Council in Turkey, Algeria, Italy and several other meetings in New York.

Ambassador Sarki also participated in the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Reform of the Security Council (IGC) that involved interactions with all the regional political groupings in the United Nations. He was also involved in the processes and activities of the Peacebuilding Commission and the U.N. Peacekeeping mandates in Africa, whereby matters related to peace and security in affected countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, CAR, Guinea Bissau etc, were discussed. He was deeply involved as a Foreign Service Officer serving in Geneva, Switzerland, in the UN’s human rights and intellectual property processes and mechanisms. He participated in the work of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and actively took part in the negotiations and discussions on the transition of the CHR to the Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2006. He also led the African Group of Experts during the negotiation of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Development Agenda in 2005.

Ambassador Sarki interacted with non-governmental organisations and civil society groups throughout his career, thereby making him sensitive and alert to their significance and roles in deepening of democracy and good governance in countries around the world. He is a prolific writer and commentator on governance, democracy and public affairs, and is a contributing columnist in the Vanguard Newspaper of Nigeria with his own column called “Through the Prism”. He has also written numerous articles for the online journal, “Intervention”.

Ambassador Sarki currently serves as Chairman of many organisations including Skyewise Automobile Group, the Gerontology Association of Nigeria (GERAN), the Nigeria-Middle East Investors Expo, the Nigeria-Morocco Business Summit, and others. He is also a member of the Population Advisory Group (PAG) that advises the National Population Commission (NPC) of which he is the Spokesperson. He is an active member of the Board of the Renaissance Development Forum (RDF) and the Borno Development Foundation (BDF) both of which are dedicated public interest driven civil society organisations. He also serves as an Executive Board member of the Africa-Middle East Progressive Initiative (AMEPI).

Ambassador Sarki is married and is blessed with five children. He is fluent in Kanuri, Shuwa Arab, Hausa and English and reads and speaks French at elementary level. He is a recipient of several awards including the Maimi-Dade County Distinguished Visitor Award, the Ali Mazrui Africa Award, and a citation from the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC). among others.