This Day (Lagos)
3 September 2004
(Page 2 of 2)
It was in 2000 that they eventually got married and three years later, Jessica decided to make a career change. She had been teaching at Georgetown University in Washington DC. She decided to go into the Foreign Service of the US and on the basis of that decision, she is now in Lagos. Mahtar Ba said one of the first countries she wanted to serve in was Nigeria.
His reason? "We are blessed to have many good Nigerian friends. Though I'm Senegalese, Nigeria was the right place for her to begin her diplomatic career". Mathar Ba's mission to Lagos is actually to put finishing touches to the take-off of the headquarters of the West and Central Africa region of AllAfrica Global Media.
Is his choice of Nigeria as regional headquarters a factor of his having many Nigerian friends? His reply was immediate: "One of the countries in the world where my wife could begin her diplomatic service is Nigeria, one, because we have a lot of friends who are Nigerians. Definitely that was an aspect in deciding where to cite the regional headquarters but if you look at the figures for West Africa alone out of 230 million people about 125 million are Nigerians.
"If you want to do business it should naturally be in Nigeria. That was also an aspect in deciding where to put our headquarters for West and Central Africa. Indeed we feel at home here".
Mahtar Ba said he has not naturalized in America. "I'm a citizen of Senegal. I grew up in Senegal and schooled partly in Senegal (he was in France and Spain for university education). I work in the United States. My wife is American; my son is American. He also has Senegalese citizenship because I'm from Senegal. I work in the US and I like the US way of life.
"As an African I see a lot of opportunities in the US. The USA is a country where you find tremendous amount of love, people who are sensitive to whatever is going on around the world. Whatever people say today about America's arrogance I can assure you that's not the real America. Of course in any country you can find all extremities but the soul of America is friendship, hard work, love. I'm still in my heart and in my mind a Senegalese. Maybe one day I will change. I don't know what will happen tomorrow", he concluded.
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