ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – A Chieftain of the Labour Party LP Mr Michael Ezeife on Thursday said that President Bola Tinubu has successfully soiled Nigeria’s image in the mould following his inability to appoint Ambassadors after Two years in office and to properly fund foreign missions operations.
Ezeife said that ambassadors are the image makers of their respective countries in their countries of operations and haven left the position vacant for so long, the President has succeeded in making Nigeria a laughing stock.
He called on the National Assembly to compel the President to fulfill his constitutional responsibility by funding Nigeria’s embassies and foreign missions, appoint Ambassadors as required by the Nigerian Constitution and the Vienna Convention.
Mr Ezeife disclose that some of the staff of the embassies abroad are facing unprecedented hardship as some have not been paid for several months and can barely get by.
“I was abroad recently and interacted with some embassy Staff in one of the countries. It was embarrassing to realise that they have not been paid for over Six months. Some of them have to dispose of their property back in Nigeria to offset basic bills and run their homes.
Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Africa but I am afraid we are currently dwarfed. How can you operate for two years without ambassadors? It’s unthinkable. This is a constitutional matter. It is also backed by international conventions.
“An ambassador is the mouth, eyes and ears of his home country. As it stands, Nigeria has no eyes or ears in any country. The embassy Staff can not sign any documents on behalf of Nigeria. It has to be an ambassador. There is so much limit to what embassy Staff can do no matter how highly placed they are.
“As we speak, some of the Chanceries and ambassadorial residents have collapsed. They are no longer operational. Water has been disconnected, light has been disconnected. Same with internet and other basic functions. It’s a big shame on us as a nation.
“We blamed President Buhari and called him a failure but we must commend him in this regard. I’m aware that he even cleared some of the backlogs of foreign missions staff and bills that he inherited. You know that other countries are well organised and so the level of corruption their is under control. So basically, you depend much on your income to survive and once it is not forthcoming, there is big problem” he said.
