The U.S. Mission in Nigeria now has a brand composed senior diplomat, Rick Swart, who arrived in Lagos on July 16, 2025, to help because the Consul Total for the southern space of the nation.
He replaces JoEllen Gorg, who led the Consulate in an acting capacity for the past seven months after Will Stevens performed his tour in November 2024.
As Consul Total, Mr. Swart will symbolize the U.S. government in the end of the 17 states of southern Nigeria, along with Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Imperfect River, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, and Ebonyi.
His vital duties will possible be to present a seize to commerce and funding hyperlinks, deepen cultural and academic exchanges, and attain shared U.S.–Nigeria dreams in areas equivalent to security, correctly being, democracy, and local climate alternate.
“I’m honoured to help in Nigeria,” Swart talked about at a reception welcoming him to Lagos. “I detect ahead to travelling in the end of the distance, assembly the folks, experiencing the custom, and dealing to construct our two international locations safer, stronger, and more affluent.”
Rick Swart is a occupation member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Carrier. Unless now, he has served as Deputy Chief of Mission on the U.S. Embassy in Chad and as Chargé d’Affaires in Chad, the Republic of Congo, and Burundi.
He used to be additionally Deputy Consul Total in Baghdad, Iraq, and served because the Humanitarian Help Officer for Africa on the U.S. Mission to the United Countries in Geneva.
His in a foreign country postings encompass stints in London, Manila, and Dubai, while domestically he labored in Washington, D.C., on complications affecting sub‑Saharan Africa.
Sooner than joining the Enlighten Division in 2002, Swart labored on architectural and invent projects in the end of Asia and Africa and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali.
In his composed diagram, Consul Total Swart will collaborate carefully with U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard in Abuja and with Nigerian federal and disclose leaders to red meat up programs that earnings both international locations.
His arrival marks a composed chapter in U.S.–Nigeria kin at a time when both international locations survey to raise economic enhance, red meat up democratic institutions, and address regional challenges together.
