A career Diplomat, he has served all around the world since joining the Foreign Service in 1982. During his stay at headquarters, he distinguished himself as an expert on economic diplomacy and served as secretary to about ten (10) Nigerian Economic Missions abroad between 1986 and 1991. He also served severally as secretary, committee on export to West Africa and as special assistant to honourable ministers of foreign affairs. He was appointed the Nigerian consul general to Cameroon (1999–2005). Igali served as the special assistant (special duties) in the Nigerian Presidential Villa (2005–2006) under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. During the period, he was also secretary to the presidential committee on money laundering and financial crimes. In addition, he also served as secretary to the presidential subcommittee on review of the public service rules (2005). He was later appointed secretary to the Bayelsa State government in January 2006 and was concurrently named honorary adviser and peace envoy to the President on Niger Delta (2006–2007). He last served as Nigeria's ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway (from 2008 to 2010). He was appointed in 2010 as the Federal Permanent Secretary for Water Resources and then redeployed to the Federal Ministry of Power by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2013.
