In his inaugural speech on May 29 2023, Bola Tinubu, heralded his era with a stunning five-word policy declaration, “The fuel subsidy is gone”. That, as it has turned out, marked the beginning of an unprecedented economic travail, which Nigeria is still grappling with. Whether fuel subsidy is truly gone, or not, is another issue, all together, but that is beside the point here. Tinubu’s supporters and indeed, he himself, continue to contend that his introduction to his presidency reflect courage. Yet, others insist, he did not appreciate the import of what he said. All that is another topic.
Not long after his inauguration, Tinubu turned his attention to the country’s diplomatic field. He may not have used exactly the same words that he used for fuel subsidy, but the definitive order was no different. As he seemed to declare; Nigeria’s ambassadors are gone! Thus, was all the ambassadors and representatives of Nigeria abroad recalled. Gone! Two years down the line, the prime seats at the foreign missions abroad remain empty.
As with the removal of fuel subsidy, the recall of the ambassadors must be yielding bountiful savings for the government. Two years after, the actual figures and real worth of savings from the removal of fuel subsidy remain uncertain. Different government officials, from the president himself to his finance minister and Central Bank governors, as well, as other officials down the ladder, continue to bandy figures of savings that have purportedly accrued from removal of fuel subsidy. Not surprisingly, the government officials have not shown any interest in reconciling gains from savings from subsidy removal and losses through closure of businesses and the such, also derived from the same removal of fuel subsidy.
At the diplomatic field, where the absence of ambassadors must have also saved substantial money for the country, nobody seems ready to count the cost, the enormous implications, of the country being without ambassadors, for a stretch of two years. May be Nigeria does not really need ambassadors and high commissioners. It is possible, considering that the country is no longer in a position to wield power and influence on the international arena. That era in her history, when Nigeria’s voice carried weight, and almost all of the world reckoned with where she stood on global affairs, is now, to all intents and purposes, a part of history.
Even on the African continent, once, the famed centre-piece of Nigeria’s foreign policy, as it was common put, a zone where her star shone so intensely and her influence undisputedly pre-eminent, the aura is gone, too. In the West African sub-region too. The gross decline of Nigeria, at home and abroad, should stand as a lesson on how devastating poor leadership can be.
Whatever Tinubu’s legacy may be at the end of the day, the virtual dismantling of ECOWAS under his watch, with the pulling away of Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger Republic, will remain an indictment on him, for all times. While the import of the absence of Nigerian ambassadors in various countries, may not easily be quantified, there is no doubt, that the cost is substantial.
It is against this backdrop that the recent report in the media of nominations made by the government, to fill vacant ambassadorial positions, is, at once, disappointing and alarming. Even as it is known that for Tinubu, politics trumps every other consideration, yet some of the names that were reported to have been nominated by his presidency, to be Nigeria’s ambassadors in foreign countries, smack of national sabotage. There must be a limit to ‘job for the boys’.
Nigeria is in a very precarious situation at the moment, economically, politically and in every other sense imaginable. A vehicle that is running late for an appointment, should avoid having accident on the way, as well, in the wise counsel of a sage. That will be a serious double jeopardy.
It is well and good that the government has repudiated the reported ambassadorial nominations, but you just never seem to know with this government. With them, what ought not to be, become and things that seem logical, somehow never come to pass. There must be some farms at home to settle entities that are in need of succour. It will amount to a reprehensible display of disdain, not just for foreign service, but for the country, at such a critical period as this, if ambassadorial posting now becomes a dumping ground for characters who are deemed unsuitable for important administrative appointments at home. This, actually, is a most appropriate time for the best of personalities, citizens of stature and character to be appointed to ambassadorial seats abroad. Alongside experienced hands from the foreign service, quality persons that will draw respect and deference in foreign lands are needed as ambassadors at the moment. Anything that can be done to shore up the profile and reckoning of Nigeria abroad, should be done at this point in time.
Nigerians abroad, whether students, professionals or business persons, as well as trafficked girls and the ones in prison, are presently not having the best of time at the hands of their representatives in foreign lands. Citizens in needs abroad, hardly receive robust and helpful representation by their embassies in many countries. Reports from various countries speak of citizens who are literally, on their own.
Interestingly, in many instances these days, when Nigerians are in trouble abroad, they tend to look towards Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. That, more or less, is an aberration. Resolving diplomatic and sundry problems of Nigerians abroad ought, primarily, to be the task of the foreign missions, under able ambassadors.
Whatever may have accounted for the inability of the government to appoint formal heads of the foreign missions since the coming into being of the Tinubu government, the delay should come to an end. Capable ambassadors bring values to their countries, not the least of which is protection and reprieve to citizens in need in their places of posting.
Tinubu has no reason to show disdain for diplomatic appointments. The country really needs quality diplomats at the moment. If, however, the government’s understanding of the place of ambassadors is a patronage lounge for “jetsam and flotsam”, payoff slots for nuisance entities who could not be accommodated in any productive engagements elsewhere, then the government can do well to continue saving money, as it has been doing in the last two years. He that is down, as Nigeria is, needs fear no fall, anyway.