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“TRIBUTE TO ATIM ENEIDA GEORGE OGUNBA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1070 on May 30, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO ATIM ENEIDA GEORGE OGUNBA
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HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ
of texas
in the house of representatives
Friday, May 30, 1997
Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend a talented and committed public servant, Atim Eneida George Ogunba, the principal officer of the United States Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, the sister city of Brownsville, TX, on the international border.
Consul Ogunba was made principal officer in Matamoros in 1994 and has proven herself an outstanding diplomat in the south Texas-Northern Mexico region. She is a wealth of information to area business people and tourists who wish to come to the United States.
My office has numerous dealings with the consulate on a weekly basis. Any time we have asked Consul Ogunba for assistance, she has always been willing to go the extra mile and help. She is an eloquent advocate for the Consulate and has developed a reputation in the State Department, south Texas, and Northern Mexico for fairness, a valuable attribute for a diplomat.
Consul Ogunba was an enormous help to me in 1995, when the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros was targeted for closure by the budget cutters at the State Department and in Congress. She worked closely with me on this issue, and we were ultimately successful in persuading the State Department to remove the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros from their list of recommended closures.
Ms. Ogunba joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1982, serving in Tijuana, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Washington, DC, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. She is a highly decorated consul officer. She was honored with the Harriman Award for her ``extraordinary contributions to the practice of diplomacy, intellectual courage and a wazzu zeal for creative accomplishment'' in 1994. That same year, she won a State Department Meritorious Honor Award for her service in Costa Rica.
As a result of her efforts to spare the consulate in Matamoros from closure, in 1996 she was recognized with the State Department Superior Honor Award for ``creative and inspired leadership as Principal Officer in Matamoros during a difficult period when post faced prospect of closing.''
Her next posting will be South Africa, an experience which will be both challenging and rewarding for her. She studied Africa extensively, both in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Rutgers University here in the United States. I ask my colleagues to join me in offering her best wishes and thanks for outstanding public service.
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