Experts: It’s Humiliating that Nigeria Has No Ambassadors Anywhere in the World
Foreign policy experts have said that it is a humiliation that Nigeria does not have a substantive ambassador in any part of the world to represent and speak for its interest.
The experts made this declaration yesterday at the Nigeria Institute of Foreign Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, during the institute’s roundtable on “Nigeria@65: Setting a New Agenda for Nigeria’s Foreign Policy Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Speaking in his welcoming remarks as the chairman of the roundtable, a retired Professor of International Law, Professor Akin Oyebode, noted with strong dissatisfaction that “it is a humiliation that we do not have ambassadors. It is not done anywhere. It is a mark of irresponsibility that all over the world we do not have a single ambassador.
“Imagine that Nigeria does not even have ambassadors in South Africa, Ethiopia, Britain, United States of America, The United Nations, Japan and Brazil. So, who is your (Tinubu’s) spokesperson?
“Nigeria does not have a permanent representative even at the United Nations. They are all in acting capacity, which does not speak well for a country as big as Nigeria.”
He declared that Nigeria needed to re-organise and retool its foreign policy and the starting point for this will be the appointments of ambassadors.
“The ambassadors are so critical in foreign missions to speak not only for the president but for the entire country. I cannot believe that as a country, and for nearly two and half years, we have been plodding along without ambassadors.
“So, there is an urge to advise the president to close that gap as fast as possible. The existing gap in our foreign relation is lack of substantive ambassadors.
“It is demeaning of Nigeria’s standing in the world. We have never had it so bad that a country will exist for two and half years without ambassadors (to head its foreign missions).
“You do not expect a foreign minister of any nation to talk to inferior persons manning our embassies abroad,” Oyebode said.
He alluded to Nigerian popular parlance “Nigeria-no-dey-carry-last,” but said that “now we are carrying even lower than last because “we are not being felt. It is a serious problem and I think the NIIA cannot keep silence about this.
“We can say that Nigeria is punching beneath its weight and we have to do something to bring the country at par with countries of our envy.
“Nigeria is a very important country and Tinubu should not continue this disservice of leaving our embassies beheaded.”
According to him, it is improper to have foreign missions without heads that are properly vetted and appointed for these missions. “Our foreign minister is an ambassador and should know this,” he said.
He also said that an acting position is one of the worst appointments anyone could have.
So, “Tinubu should tell Nigerians what are his problems with appointing ambassadors to foreign missions? As I have said, it is not befitting of a country of this standing. Nigeria is not a small country. The earlier Tinubu recognises that the better.
“If everyone is keeping quite this colloquium (NIIA roundtable) cannot keep quite. For over two years we have been plodding along without ambassadors. Second best is not as good as number one,” he said.
Oyebode urged Tinubu to look for the best and the brightest among us for appointment into ambassadorial positions because there are enough good people all over the country, asking “what does it profit Tinubu to run the whole country without foreign spokespersons.”
Speaking in the same vein, a former Professor of Political Science at University of Lagos, Professor Adele Jinadu, observed that it is unexplainable that for two years Nigeria has no ambassadors to lead its foreign missions.
Jinadu attributed this to the inclination of Nigerian politicians that they could do anything and get away with it because they owe nothing to Nigerians.
Also, Dr. Inna Frank Ogbise of NIIA said that not appointing an ambassador could as well be a matter of policy for Tinubu because actions and inactions are all parts of foreign policies.
But Ambassador Janet Olisa, who retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged that it is the prerogative of the president to appoint ambassadors, but explained that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has taken steps to ensure that Nigeria’s foreign missions are led by top diplomats and some of them are former ambassadors.
