Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has faulted President Bola Tinubu for failing to appoint ambassadors two years into his administration.

 

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, Akinyemi described the situation as “unusual” and insisted that the president owes Nigerians a clear explanation.

 

“I think the President owes us really an explanation. There must be something there, and that makes it difficult for me to explain. Well, it’s not my job to explain. It’s the job of the foreign minister to explain why we don’t have ambassadors after two years of this administration,” he said.

 

Dismissing funding concerns as an excuse, the former minister stressed that the presence of functioning embassies is crucial to projecting a nation’s image and gauging global sentiment.

 

“It cannot be due to lack of money, because since this government came on board, you could see how revenue has increased, and what they’ve done with the revenue is to increase money going to the states, increase money going to the National Assembly. Surely, part of this increase in revenue would have been made available to have ambassadors in different countries,” he added.

 

Akinyemi emphasized that Nigeria’s foreign policy credibility and diplomatic strength are being undermined by the prolonged absence of ambassadors, warning that the vacuum sends a wrong signal to the international community.