President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will appoint a fresh set of ambassadors in the coming days to fill up vacant positions across Nigerian foreign missions
The special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga disclosed this on Sunday
This is coming on the hill of sustained pressure from different quarters on the need to appoint substantive ambassadors
You may recall that president Tinubu ordered the recall of ambassadors covering 76 embassies, 22 high Communications and 11 consulates in what was described as “comprehensive diplomatic review” in September 2023. Nigeria has 109 foreign missions across the globe
Since then, most missions have been led by chargés d’affaires or senior consular officers, whose limited mandates have reportedly weakened Nigeria’s diplomatic reach.
With several foreign governments offering less recognition to chargés d’affaires, analysts say Nigeria has suffered reduced influence abroad, with reports linking the diplomatic vacuum to recent friction with the United States, including Donald Trump’s controversial comments about religious killings.
Responding to inquiries from Vanguard, Onanuga assured that Tinubu would appoint ambassadors imminently
