•Govt embargoes accounts

There is no three-month tenure extension for the ambassadors recently recalled by the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified yesterday.

Also, the Federal Government has placed embargo on foreign missions’ accounts to check frivolous spending by envoys.

The Ministry stated that the envoys’ October 31 exit date remained sacrosanct, adding that Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who issued the notice, acted on the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It was learnt that non-career ambassadors had initiated moves to remain on their duty posts till December 31.

But the Presidency was not convinced on the excuse given to extend their stay, following alleged suspicious actions of some of the envoys to mop up funds.

The Federal Government has placed embargo on last minutes expenditure by the envoys.

As part of the recalibration of the nation’s Foreign Policy, President Tinubu had directed non-career envoys to return home.

Those affected have been lobbying traditional rulers, businessmen and influential politicians to remain in their host countries.

Tuggar, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, said there was no directive to extend the exit date of recalled ambassadors.

He said the report that recalled envoys have had their diplomatic duties extended by three months is unknown to the minister.

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.”

On the embargo on expenditures by the outgoing ambassadors, a source said the Federal Government took the step to curtail alleged moves by some of them to mop up funds in their embassies.

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.” (The Nation)

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