The Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Transparency and Accountability is unhappy that there are no representatives in at least 109 foreign missions.
The group’s leader, Igwe Ude-Umanta, has requested President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint diplomats to these vacant positions for the benefit of the country.
The coalition pointed out that Nigeria faces challenges in conducting important discussions with foreign governments because high-ranking officials only meet with ambassadors or officials of similar status.
The group urged President Tinubu and the National Assembly to pay attention to the sudden recall of Nigerian ambassadors, both career and non-career, from different countries in September 2023.
The coalition further expressed concern that the Nigerian ambassadors were recalled without any plans or provisions made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to replace them.The recall was justified by citing insufficient funds to appoint new ambassadors.
However, they criticized the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Permanent Secretary, Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa, for not taking adequate measures to address this issue.
They wondered why the Ministry advised the President to recall all the Ambassadors if they were supposed to be patriotic and selfless. They pointed out that it is unprecedented in the world for a country to be without Ambassadors in all parts of the world for nine months. This is the first time it has happened in Nigeria, and they criticized the fact that proper rules and procedures were ignored in the process.
