The Dean of Non-Career Ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ambassador Nwannebuike Ominyi has said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be held responsible for the continued starvation of missions and embassies.
Ambassador Ominyi was reacting to a statement credited to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, where he alleged that Non-Career Ambassadors are lobbying prominent personalities to extend their stay.
In a statement by his special assistant, Iduma Chris Mayor, Ominyi said the continued starvation of missions and embassies was a result of the failure of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar to ensure effective remittance of their overhead allocation for five months.
He called on Nigerians, friends and partners as well as the international community, to ignore all publications made by the foreign affairs ministry, alleging that both Career and Non-Career Ambassadors are lobbying personalities for their stay to be extended.
The statement reads in part: “The starvation which the Missions and Embassies are facing are as a result of the failure of the foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar to ensure effective remittance of their overhead allocation for five months.
“Contrary to the claims that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has completed as of 24th October 2023, in sending the money for Ambassadors passages to return home, that information is misleading as none of the envoys have received such money as of today 31st October 2023.
“This Class of Ambassadors both Career and Non-Career have distinguished themselves, they are men and women of high integrity and can’t indulge in lobbying personalities.
“The alleged move to mop up funds in their embassies by the Ambassadors, when it is in the public domain that the Ambassadors have resorted to using their savings to run the missions and embassies, and service providers are threatening court actions against Missions” he stated.
