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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has acknowledged the delay in releasing Nigeria’s ambassadorial list, attributing it to the difficulty of balancing competing interests and finalising nominations.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday when members of The Buhari Organisation (TBO), led by former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Tanko Al-Makura, paid him a courtesy visit at the State House, Abuja.
“I couldn’t appoint everybody that I could have appointed, thank you for your patience till now. I still have some slots for ambassadorial positions that too many people are craving for, but it’s not easy stitching together those names,” the President said.
Since September 2023, Nigeria has operated without appointed envoys, following Tinubu’s recall of more than 83 career and non-career ambassadors as part of a reassessment of the country’s foreign policy anchored on the “4Ds” — Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora.
In the months that followed, unofficial lists of potential ambassadorial nominees circulated, but no formal appointments were made.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar confirmed in April that his ministry had forwarded nominations to the Presidency but said the President’s focus on economic reforms and other pressing state matters contributed to the delay.
Tuggar further explained that financial constraints, including currency fluctuations and conversion challenges, have complicated operations across Nigeria’s 109 foreign missions, worsening the impact of the prolonged vacancy in ambassadorial positions.
It can be recalled that major economic measures were introduced early in Tinubu’s administration, including the removal of petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, and the floating of the naira shortly afterwards, which triggered a steep devaluation of the currency.
