Politics delaying ambassadorial appointments — Minister

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has given a fresh insight into why Nigeria is still without ambassadors 18 months after it recalled all its envoys. Tuggar, had in May 2024, said the paucity of funds was responsible for the delay in appointing ambassadors for Nigeria. The minister said President Bola Tinubu’s administration […]

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has given a fresh insight into why Nigeria is still without ambassadors 18 months after it recalled all its envoys.

Tuggar, had in May 2024, said the paucity of funds was responsible for the delay in appointing ambassadors for Nigeria. The minister said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was facing a significant financial and economic challenge, saying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not been receiving the necessary funding to operate effectively.

However, while speaking during the 5th edition of the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja on Thursday, he said the nature of politics and governance is now responsible for the delay.

“What I can say is that it is what it is. It’s the nature of governance, it’s the nature of politics. You work with the circumstances in which you find yourself,” he said.

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Since Nigeria recalled the envoys on September 2, 2023, Nigeria’s 109 diplomatic missions, comprising 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and one consulate have been without full diplomatic representation in the rank of ambassadors.

However, the minister said the ambassadors would soon be named. “I would like to assure you that in the very near future, the names of nominated ambassadors are going to be forwarded to the Senate. This is something that is more or less concluded.”

A source who is familiar with the process told Daily Trust that there had been a lot of lobbying, saying: “This is delaying the process of appointing the new ambassadors.”

The source who pleaded for anonymity said Nigerians would see a lot of surprises when the list is eventually released.

Foreign policy experts and ex-diplomats have been expressing concerns that the absence of full representation at the ambassadorial level in Nigerian missions abroad is affecting the country’s foreign relations thrust.

Their argument is that the chargé d’affaires running the missions do not have the commensurate weight and rank to meet with foreign ministers of their host countries, going by diplomatic protocols and procedures.

This, according to the experts, is because as officers at the director level in the civil service, the charge d’affaires’ ranking does not accord them the right to operate at the highest possible level in representing Nigeria in their host countries and in international fora.

But Tuggar yesterday argued that the situation was not affecting the operation of Nigerian missions across the world, adding that “even within the confines of missions you have a lot of officers that work there.

“It’s a microcosm of the government of Nigeria there. You have immigration, you have defence, you have military officers there and several others. It doesn’t mean that the mission is ground to a halt simply because an ambassador has not been appointed. Please understand this, our missions are working,” he insisted.

Daily Trust gathered that the federal government had started vetting potential candidates to lead the more than 100 diplomatic missions.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs familiar with the matter, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak on the matter, said the appointment of ambassadors would be announced very soon.

They hinted that the security services were already conducting background checks on possible appointees and had started sharing their findings with the relevant agencies within the presidency and legislature.

Ambassador Bulus Lolo, a former Nigerian envoy to Ethiopia, welcomed the new development, saying Nigerians have been clamouring for it for long.

He said the appointment of ambassadors to lead the country’s missions across the world was long overdue.

“It has been 18 months [since Nigerian ambassadors were recalled] and it has been long overdue.

“There is nothing like having a substantive officeholder, looking after an office but now that we are about to have ambassadors, it is welcoming.

“Usually, when a new government comes in, after the ministerial appointments, the next appointment that generates a lot of attention Is the ambassadors. Then you have members of boards and other appointments that are made.

”We only hope that the Senate will fast-track the process,” he said.