The Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, His Excellency Hans-Rudolph Hodel, will speak on democracy, federalism and confederation on Thursday at the American University of Nigeria.
Hodel, who serves concurrently as Ambassador to Chad and Niger, holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen and has served in many international posts during his distinguished diplomatic career.
The AUN President, Dr. Margee Ensign, said Hodel’s visit and lecture are timely, coming as Nigeria prepares for the presidential election.
Dr. Hodel’s career has taken him to much of Africa, serving as Ambassador and Head of Mission of the Swiss Confederation to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Gabon, and Sao Tomé and Principe, between 2006 and 2008.
He was also the Ambassador and Head of Mission to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama between 2008 and 2012.
He has also served in Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, Austria, and Italy in many different capacities.
His topic: “Democracy in Switzerland: Federalism within the Swiss Confederation,” is part of the AUN Diplomatic Lecture Series, started in 2011 as a forum for interaction between the diplomatic community in Nigeria and the American University of Nigeria community.
The list of visitors includes Dr. Patrick Fay, former Irish Ambassador to Nigeria and now faculty member at AUN, who visited the campus in February 2014 and joined AUN faculty upon his retirement from diplomatic service this spring 2015 semester.
Other distinguished diplomats have included the former EU ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Dr. David Macrae, who has also joined AUN, as Executive Vice President and Christopher Cooter (Canadian Ambassador to Nigeria), Moshe Ram (Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria), and Terence McCulley (US ambassador to Nigeria).
The current US ambassador, James Entwistle, spoke at the American University of Nigeria last October.