Just In : It’s Official, Tinubu To Sack These People On October 31st (DETAILS)
The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that there is no extension of the tenure for the recently recalled ambassadors, debunking reports of a three-month extension.
Additionally, the Federal Government has imposed a spending embargo on foreign missions’ accounts to curb extravagant expenditures by envoys.
The Ministry affirmed that the envoys’ exit date of October 31 remains unchanged.
It further explained that Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, acting on the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, issued the notice.
It was reported that non-career ambassadors had sought to prolong their assignments until December 31. However, the Presidency was unconvinced by the rationale provided for the extension, citing alleged suspicious financial activities by some envoys.
The Federal Government has now restricted last-minute expenditures by the envoys.
As part of the nation’s Foreign Policy recalibration, President Tinubu had instructed non-career envoys to return home. Those affected have been engaging with traditional leaders, business figures, and influential politicians in a bid to remain in their host countries.
Tuggar, in a statement released by his Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, affirmed that there has been no directive to extend the exit date of recalled ambassadors.
According to him: “Some of the envoys have either signaled their host governments of leaving or have left and returned to the country already.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recall still stands and all envoys are expected to be back in Nigeria by the 31st of October as earlier communicated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, acting on the directive of the President.
“This is a routine matter to recalibrate Nigeria’s foreign policy and international relations in line with the 4Ds (Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora) foreign policy strategy under the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President.”
The Federal Government imposed the spending embargo on outgoing ambassadors to prevent purported attempts by certain individuals among them to accumulate funds in their embassies, a source revealed.
The source added: “On the issue of the embargo on expenditures, it has been done. Some of the requests are not in line with routine expenditures. They are suspicious and look like last minute mop ups.
“Some of the envoys have continuously mounted tremendous pressures on the Heads of Chanceries and Accountants to pay them without recourse to due diligence. They have gone a step further to ask that personnel and capital budgets be turned into overhead budgets.”
According to the source, payment of exit allowances to the recalled ambassadors has started.
He said: ”All payments have been completed. The payments, which started on the night of 24th October, 2023 were completed yesterday (25th of October, 2023).
“However, due to the difference in time zones and banking systems, it may not have reflected in some missions.”
A non-career ambassadors disclosed that the umbrella association of the group had written to the President to extend the deadline for their recall.
He said although the ambassadors also appreciated the President’s decision to recall them to “reengineer the foreign policy of his administration,” they asked for a three-month grace on their duty posts.
The envoy, who spoke in confidence, said: “We drew the attention of Mr. President to the fact that the deadline of October 31brings a major challenge to our children’s education.
“Most schools resumed some weeks ago, and our children are about half way into the school term. We don’t want any school calendar transition to cause setback for our children who will return to school in Nigeria.
“We have asked the President to extend the deadline for our return from October 31st to December 31st, 2023.”
