EXCLUSIVE: Why Tinubu hasn’t appointed ambassadors, most of whom will be political appointees

Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, says his ministry has forwarded the names of ambassadorial nominees to President Bola Tinubu. However, the president’s attention to economic reforms and other state matters has delayed the formal appointment of the ambassadors, he said.

Mr Tuggar, who spoke in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, said, “The president has to forward the names to the Senate for screening, and thereafter, there will be a request where we will assign ambassadors to the nations where they will go…”

He said the list was transmitted to the president over a year ago in the wake of the macroeconomic reforms, “which was more important” and marked the beginning of the Tinubu administration, hence the delay.

President Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inauguration on 29 May 2023. Days later, he floated the naira, essentially devaluing the Nigerian currency by over 100 per cent. Ambassadors were recalled about four months later and have not been reappointed.

Other delays affecting the appointment, Mr Tuggar said, include currency fluctuations and currency conversion challenges affecting missions abroad. Nigeria has about 109 missions abroad who have over the years been affected by currency fluctuations.

“There were even shortfalls because we had different exchange rates and then we had huge fluctuations in the exchange rate as well. This further compounded the issue of funding missions and also funding the sending out of ambassadors,” the minister explained.

He, however, noted that appointments will be made soon.

Giving an insight into what the list sent to the president looks like, the minister said the list comprised both career diplomats and political appointees.

“It is a mixture,” he said. “In fact, the list being contemplated has more political appointees than the career ambassadors.”

When asked why there were more political appointees, he disclosed that it is at the president’s discretion, albeit with its pros and cons.

He went further to make a case for political appointees as ambassadors using himself as an example during the previous administration where he was appointed as ambassador to Germany.

“The same way that you have competent political appointees and you have some that are not equally competent. By the way, I was a former political appointee as an ambassador,” he said.

Last week, several media platforms published the names of supposed nominees for ambassadorial positions who had undergone security clearance.

The foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, however, denied the reports, saying, “Be rest assured that when it is ready, Mr President will transmit the list of nominees to the National Assembly for screening and confirmation.”

Ambassadors recalled in 2023

President Bola Tinubu, in September 2023, through the foreign affairs ministry, announced the recall of all ambassadors. No specific reason was given at the time.

According to a statement issued at the time by Alkasim Abdulkadir, the foreign minister’s special adviser on media and communications strategy, ambassadors serve as representatives of the country at the president’s behest, and it is his prerogative to send or recall them from any country.

In a separate statement, the then-presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngalele, said the recall was a sequel to the president’s “careful study” of the present state of affairs at Nigerian consulates and embassies worldwide.

“… in line with the president’s renewed hope agenda, the president is determined to ensure that world-class efficiency and quality, will henceforth, characterise foreign and domestic service delivery to citizens, residents and prospective visitors alike,” Mr Ngalele said.

Nigerian missions abroad have since then been led by charge d’affaires, who are career civil servants.

Nigerian Missions and Funding

Over the years, funding Nigeria’s missions abroad has been difficult and has left everyone complaining including the country’s foreign ministers

Mr Tuggar’s predecessor, Geoffrey Onyeama, noted that Nigeria cannot get its international image to fit into the acceptable module of the international community if its foreign missions remain underfunded.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that despite increased budgetary allocation (in naira terms) for Nigeria’s foreign missions over the years, fluctuations and exchange rates continue to affect funding received by these missions.

While the budgetary allocations are in naira, monies are often transmitted in US dollars and further exchanged in the local currency where these missions are located.

In the past years, concerns have heightened on how poor funding affects Nigeria’s foreign policy implementation.

In our interview, Mr Tuggar told PREMIUM TIMES that this administration is working to address the challenge of funding.

“First is ensuring the stability in the exchange rates… now we have a single exchange rate that allows for stability and predictability.

“…better management of resources. We are ensuring we send out competent heads of mission. We also presented a memo at the Federal Executive Council that has empowered us to take stock of all the properties we have abroad, rationalise, where possible, go into public-private partnership arrangements so that some of these missions will become self-funded and more sustainable,” Mr Tuggar said.

PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview in the next few days.