In September 2023, President Bola Tinubu recalled 83 diplomats, including career and non-career appointees, from their posts. 15 months later, no replacements have been appointed across Nigeria’s 109 diplomatic missions.

In April, the president attempted to address this vacuum by appointing 12 consuls-general and five chargés d’affaires to represent Nigeria in 14 countries.

However, experts argue that these appointments are not enough. Rasheed Akinkuolie, a retired Consul to Cameroon, explained to The Punch that not having resident ambassadors at their posts is far from ideal.

“Chargés d’affaires may not be able to relate with host governments at the highest level, which includes heads of state. A chargé d’affaires can generally only relate with foreign ministries and other officials,” Akinkuolie explained.

READ MORE: ‘Staff Filmed, Laughed at Us’, Super Eagles Speak Out Against Poor Treatment in Libyan Airport

Similarly, another expert interviewed by Daily Trust pointed out that a chargé d’affaires may not even secure meetings with foreign ministers because their rank is equivalent to that of a director. The expert argued that their status would limit their ability to handle high-stakes diplomatic issues.

FUNDING CHALLENGES

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the minister and the spokesperson, has blamed the delay in appointments on finances.

For instance, in May, Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained how it would be pointless to make appointments without funding the foreign missions.

“We met a situation where Foreign Affairs was not being funded like the way it should be… 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,” the minister said.

Eche Abu-Ode, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry, would later reiterate this. Abu-ode hoped that funding for foreign missions would be included in the supplementary budget in 2024.

“I guess the funds may be included in the supplementary budget, but for now, there is no clear way forward without funds,” he said.

Budget implementation documents confirmed the funding claims. By the end of the third quarter of 2024, none of Nigeria’s foreign missions had received funds from the Federal Government.

A PATTERN OF NEGLECT

This delay is not unprecedented. In 2020, under former president Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria went nine months without foreign representation after ambassadors were recalled.

Meanwhile, this disregard for foreign relations extends beyond appointments.

As of November 2024, the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained unsecured for five days due to an expired security certificate.

This failure to maintain basic digital infrastructure is in violation of standards set by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for state-owned government web pages.

Nigerians have also suffered actual consequences of this disregard. In October for instance, Nigerian footballers, representing the nation in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers, were mistreated by Libyan authorities.

The incident had the players stranded in a Libyan airport without food and water for about 16 hours. The aftermath almost spiralled into a diplomatic scuffle.

READ ALSO: Niger Proposes N1.2trn 2025 Budget Despite Multi-Billion Underperformance

In another incident, some Nigerians were detained in Cameroon in connection to the abduction of a Cameroonian official. The involvement of these individuals had not been confirmed, FIJ reported.

The Cameroonian authorities detained the Nigerians for breaking an economically repressive curfew.

When contacted, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) distanced itself from the matter. The controversy surrounding visa bans by the United Arab Emirates is another instance that points to the absence of a solid diplomatic front.

Per the Nigerian constitution, the president reserves the right to select diplomats whose appointments are subject to senate scrutiny. On November 21, The Punch reported that the government had made moves to name some envoys, after 14 months. The moves had yet to become actual appointments at press time.