Richard Montgomery named new British High Commissioner to Nigeria

Richard Hugh Montgomery has been named the new British High Commissioner to Nigeria by the government of the United Kingdom.

The high commission is the office that represents the UK government in a Commonwealth country.

A statement released Tuesday said Montgomery will take over for Catriona Laing as the UK’s envoy in Nigeria in April 2023.

Laing has been the UK’s representative in Nigeria since 2018, but Montgomery will take over that job.

As a diplomat, a high commissioner is in charge of the work and direction of the consulate. This includes political relations, trade and investment, press and cultural relations, and visa and consular services.

The statement said that Laing will be moved to another job in the diplomatic service.

From 2009 to 2013, Montgomery was the head of office and counsellor for development at the Department for International Development (DFID) office in Abuja.

He has a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Cambridge and other research-related degrees from GKW Consult Mannheim and Manchester University.

The diplomat most recently worked in Washington as the UK executive director for the World Bank Group.

He has also worked in Zambia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, where he was in charge of executive development.