The Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Transparency and Accountability has decried the absence of envoys in no fewer than 109 foreign missions and asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the matter.
The group’s convener, Comrade Igwe Ude-Umanta, issued a statement yesterday in Abuja in which he appealed to Tinubu to fill the vacant positions in the country’s interest.
The coalition argued that as it stands, Nigeria cannot undertake any serious bilateral engagement because top officials do not grant an audience to officials less than the status of an ambassador.
The coalition argued that President Tinubu and the National Assembly should critically examine the strange and abrupt recall of career and non-career Nigerian Ambassadors from all over the world in September 2023.
They noted that it is unfortunate that the Ambassadors were recalled without arrangements by the Foreign Affairs Ministry to replace them, under the pretext of lack of monies to mobilise new Ambassadors.
The group stressed that in the absence of resources to mobilize new Ambassadors, the right thing to do is to allow the recalled ones return to their duty posts since it will not require extra costs, pending when the government has enough funds for a seamless change of guard.
It accused the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar and the ministry’s permanent secretary, Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa, of not addressing the problem.
They alleged: “It is evident that the minister and the now suspended Permanent Secretary prefer the foreign missions not having ambassadors.
As embarrassing and costly as it is, it serves some personal interests for them as they will be servicing those missions directly.
“How on earth did the ministry come up with the idea of advising the president to recall all the Ambassadors if they are patriotic or altruistic? It has never happened in the history of the world that a country is without Ambassadors all over the world for nine months. In Nigeria specifically, this is the first time it is happening. And in doing so, all laid-down rules were jettisoned.
“For the records, the recall of an ambassador is guided by stringent procedures that allow them to put things in place, including the mission, themselves and family. But in this case, that rule was deliberately abandoned. It took a listening President Tinubu to grant the appeal of those diplomats about the rule before they were granted the necessary extension.”
They appealed to Tinubu to clear the alleged mess by sacking Tuggar and Lamuwa.
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