The federal government has started vetting potential candidates to lead its more than 100 diplomatic missions, with appointments expected “very soon”, 18 months after President Bola Tinubu recalled all ambassadors, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
In September 2023, the government recalled all its envoys, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, announcing at the time that the action which affected career and non-career ambassadors, was not a witch-hunt.
Stressing that ambassadors were representatives of the country, the foreign affairs ministry stated that they serve at the behest of the president and that he reserved the prerogative to deploy them to or recall them from any country.
At the time, the ambassadors were expected to commence the winding down of their affairs in their countries of deployment, and take formal leave of the host government within 60 days and to return to Nigeria latest by October 31, 2023.
The Reuters report recalled that Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist insurgents in West Africa, has operated without ambassadors since September 2023, stating that the minister of foreign affairs had previously blamed a lack of funds for the delay in naming new diplomats.
A government source told Reuters that the issue “is being resolved” and “that means the appointment will be announced very soon.”
Nigeria’s security services were conducting background checks on possible appointees and had started sharing their findings with the relevant agencies within the presidency and legislature, an intelligence official told Reuters.
A spokesperson from the presidency referred Reuters’ questions to the foreign affairs ministry, which declined to comment. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter.
Since coming to power in May 2023, Tinubu has prioritised fixing Nigeria’s struggling economy, with foreign policy taking a back seat, said a former ambassador who served in Africa and the United States.
The government has this year budgeted N302.4 billion ($198.30 million) to run its foreign missions, the report highlighted.
The former Nigerian ambassador said he was informed by government officials that the issue of the absence of ambassadors in their countries had come up in discussions between Tinubu and some foreign leaders.
“Assurance has been given that they will soon be appointed,” said the former ambassador, who declined to be named, according to the story.
