Consul General Will Stevens: Articulating, Integrating US Policies, Interests in Nigeria Will Stevens is the United States Consul General at the U.S Consulate General in Lagos. As an experienced Foreign Service Officer with overseas experi
Will Stevens is the United States Consul General at the U.S Consulate General in Lagos. As an experienced Foreign Service Officer with overseas experience in South Africa, Russia, Turkmenistan, Israel, and Belarus, as well as experience in Washington at the Foreign Service Institute, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Bureau of African Affairs, he brings to bear his years of experience to Nigeria in articulating, championing and integrating US policies and interests.
On what his career as a foreign service officer entails, he said they work at USA Embassies and promote US interests, adding that it that can “be everything from being an officer in the consulate section to helping American citizens, and issuing visas to people who want to travel to the USA, to working in the political economy section- understanding the political economy context of the country we are working in.
“That means investment. We are looking at it as a Nigerian export. They are producing content for streaming platforms but that’s not the only thing. However, he said almost all these go through the local society, and NGOs- “supporting and helping them do the work they do. So you won’t see us out there saying look what we are doing, you’ll see local organisations doing exactly that”.On the recently held African Leaders Summit, he said it was an opportunity for Nigerians to engage with President Biden; Vice President Harris; Secretary Blinken and a variety of cabinet officials and USA business leaders about the future of the US business.
While the Consul General admits that the US Government shares the same value of protecting their respective nation’s sovereignty, he however believes they owe its citizens the duty of care, especially to share information that will be useful to their well-being. On other parts of support the US government is channeling for the election, he said though technical assistance and ICT support for the Independent National Electoral Commission and civil society organisations, they hope to encourage voter participation.When asked what punitive measures they will apply for defaulters, he said “any individual seeking to undermine the democratic process through violence may be found ineligible for visa movements.
“Just last month we announced the return of 3.5 million dollars that’s in addition to those returned over the years. So these assets can be stolen and together through legal proceedings, we can make sure such things are stopped.” Giving the insecurity challenges faced by Nigeria, especially with terrorism, he reiterated that they have built partnership and worked robustly with Nigerian security forces in capacity building and equipment, adding that he is proud of that accomplishment.
“We’ve seen that some of the recent drug burst in Nigerian history happened in the last six months. That’s a testament to our Nigerian partners and we are proud to support them because when you catch the drugs here, you are stopping drugs from going into your communities, and around the world, it’s a global fight.
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