From NDUJIHE UGWU, Abuja
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns the general public to disregard the fake list of ambassadorial nominees currently in circulation, some ‘diplomatic stakeholders’ have described the circulating as a kite flown by diplomatic circle insiders to remind the federal government of the oddity of Nigeria not having its ambassadors in world capitals in nearly two years of the Tinubu administration.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued by its Acting Spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, said the appointment of ambassadors is the prerogative of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and such appointments are yet to be made by the president.
“The purported list should, therefore, be discountenanced,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
But the circulating list and its denial by the foreign ministry have come against the backdrop of growing concerns among Nigerians, who are worried of the diplomatic implications of the Tinubu Administration’s seeming failure to appoint new envoys nearly two after the old ones were recalled soon after Tinubu’s inauguration as president in May last year.
“The list appears to me as a gimmick, a kite-flying by insiders in the ministry of foreign who simply want to remind the president of his failure to take a major governance step,” a source who spoke to Daily Query in Abuja said.
“How can a country struggling to burnish its international image and attract foreign investments not have its ambassadors across different countries of the world. That doesn’t make much sense.
“It is in this sense that I find the circulating list as a mere ploy by some worried stakeholders in the diplomatic circle to drag the government out of its slumber in order that it may take steps to do the right thing,” the source argued.
Another source reviewed recent diplomatic embarrassment for Nigeria in seizures of its national assets by companies from other friendly countries and noted that while Tinubu’s deployment of direct diplomacy to handle such testy situations is in order, “the usual thing is for the nation’s ambassador to the country from which companies flexing muscle with us over contract breaches, to soften the negotiation ground first to avoid the ugly situations as became our lot with the Chinese companies, from arising.”
“It is time to appoint envoys to represent our diplomatic interests across the world. This government is so eager to engage the world and, indeed, has more reasons than one to engage the international community on many issues but it has no ambassadors anywhere in the world,does that make sense?’, any ministry of foreign affairs source quipped in a chat with Daily Query in Abuja.
“The sooner they take the necessary steps to do the needful the better for all of us. The fake list is a wake-up call for them to do that needful.”
