Ex- Nigerian Envoy Tasks Tinubu On Deployment Of New Ambassadors

Former Nigerian High Commissioner to Singapore, Ambassador Ogbole Ode has urged the government of President Bola Tinubu to immediately deployed substantive ambassadors and high commissioners to the country’s foreign missions to boost Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements.

Ode, who also served as the Spokesman of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed concerns over the delay in deploying the envoys to their duty posts over three weeks after they have been cleared by the Nigerian National Assembly.

He said “the lacuna can only be translated to mean that at the highest level of diplomatic representation in diplomatic capitals across the globe, Nigeria will be missing.”

Speaking on the implications of this delay especially now that Nigeria appears to be the epicenter of global attention as the US has started bombing terrorist camps in northern Nigeria, the former diplomat said “There are certain challenges that can be handled at the level of the principal envoy. For example, the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern by the Trump administration might have been averted by an ambassador that is proactive.”

He added that the task before the new envoys will be “Promoting and defending the national interest,” adding that in the given circumstance of Nigeria’s heightened insecurity, and against the backdrop of the government’s exertions at curbing this menace, “it will be the onerous task of these principal envoys to adopt the government’s position.”

Recall that President Bola Tinubu eventually sent a list of ambassadorial nominees to the National Assembly two years after he recalled all the substantive heads of Nigeria’s foreign missions.  However, three weeks after the nominees were cleared by the lawmakers, they are yet to be deployed.