BLACKBURN man Toafiq Wahab was given the ideal send-off to his latest Foreign Office job when his boss, Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, wished him good luck.

Toafiq, known as Toff, has been regularly attending Mr Straw's constituency meetings to get tips from the top.

He is due to set off to Lagos in Nigeria later this month on his next post with the diplomatic service, after finishing his first posting in Asia earlier this year.

Toff, a former St Wilfrid's School pupil, said: "Jack Straw is ultimately my boss, so I have got to know him quite well. He might have a very busy schedule, but he still has time for his constituents and so I have sat in on quite a few of his surgeries and got to know him quite well."

The 26-year-old father of two aims to become an ambassador for the Foreign Office within the next 15 years, but for now has been given the job of third secretary in charge of visa and consular matters.

He will be taking his wife Rozmina and his two children Mohammed Sharatch and Mohammed Tariq with him.

He said: "I am looking forward to it and so are they. It is a new country, a new challenge. That is the name of the game. It is an experience and an opportunity."

His biggest challenge before arriving in the country is to learn the Yoruba language from scratch. "It is not a pre-requisite to have a language if you are in the Foreign Office. Mine is a perfect example where I have learnt a language from scratch. Willingness and enthusiasm are required to learn a language."

His tutor has been teaching him the language full time for the past few weeks.

And he is relishing the new job. "I understand that Nigeria has a cultural heritage which is a panorama of music, colour, dance and worship. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and is a country which is changing. Living there will enable me to explore the country, the culture and it's people."

He has his sights set on an ambassador's job soon, but at the moment is still thankful for his parents' push into the career.

"My parents gave me the encouragement to apply. I had also stereotyped the Foreign Office and thought that I would not have much chance. But my parents' motto has been: 'If you don't try, you never get'. It was this which made me apply and look where I am now."

He added: "I will aim to become a British ambassador in the future. That is what I am striving for and I will do it. I have a lot of valuable experience at a young age and I hope to continue to build upon it."

His career with the Foreign Office started as a diplomatic service officer and chairman of the service's ethnic minority advisory group. His efforts in the service were recognised by an invitation to Buckingham Palace in May 1998 for outstanding achievement.