By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has disclosed that financial and economic challenges being faced by the current administration are responsible for the delay in appointing ambassadors to foreign countries.
Tuggar made this disclosure during the ministerial press briefing on Tuesday, 28 May, 2024 in Abuja.
Nigeria has 109 missions, 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and 11 consulates globally.
“The whole idea was to stop subsidising consumption and focus on subsidising production.
“However, the government has faced various other challenges. When the microeconomic reforms began showing benefits, platforms like Binance and the rise of cryptocurrencies began undermining those gains,” Tuggar stated.
The Minister, who said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been receiving the necessary funding to operate effectively, added that it was pointless to appoint ambassadors without the financial resources to support their travel and the effective running of missions abroad.
“We met a situation where Foreign Affairs was not being funded like the way it should be. Some loopholes are exploited by the likes of Binance. It is a money problem. There is no point sending out ambassadors if you do not have the funds for them to even travel to their designated country and to run the missions effectively, one needs funding,” he said.
Despite these hurdles, Tuggar assured all that the government was addressing the issue.
“Mr. President is working on it and it will be done in due course,” he concluded.
Recall that on September 2, 2023, President Bola Tinubu recalled all career and non-career ambassadors operating the country’s diplomatic missions, embassies and consulates globally.
The envoys were directed to return to the country on or before October 31. They include the 41 non-career ambassadors and 42 career ambassadors appointed by Former President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2020.
The lack of appointed ambassadors has raised concerns about Nigeria’s diplomatic representation and the effectiveness of its foreign missions.
Tuggar explained that upon taking office, Tinubu prioritised the removal of subsidies on consumption to redirect focus towards production subsidies.
