President Bola Tinubu has authorized the assignment of 65 ambassadors-designate and high commissioners to various nations and the United Nations, including former aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode to Germany and presidential aide Reno Omokri to Mexico.
31 career ambassadors and 34 non-career ambassadors have been appointed to their duty stations, according to a statement released on Thursday by Bayo Onanuga, the president’s special advisor on information and strategy.
Among the prominent non-career appointees are Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, who has been appointed as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, and former Katsina State Governor Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, who will serve in Beijing, China.
Other notable appointments include Senator Ita Enang (South Africa), former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Spain), former Health Minister Prof. Isaac Adewole (Canada), and Lateef Kayode Are (United States).
Senator Grace Bent will serve in Lomé (Togo), while former Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been assigned to Athens (Greece).
Aminu Dalhatu, a close acquaintance of the president, will serve as high commissioner to the United Kingdom, while Ayodele Oke, former director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, will be in France.
Fatima Ajimobi has been sent to Vienna (Austria), Mrs. Lola Akande to Stockholm (Sweden), and Joe-Kyari Okocha, SAN, to Dublin (Ireland). Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas will represent Nigeria in Manila (Philippines), while Paul Adikwu has been appointed to the Vatican Holy City.
Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu will serve in Tel Aviv (Israel), Mahmud Yakubu in Doha (Qatar), and Yakubu Gambo in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Senator Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut has been posted to Seoul (South Korea), while Dr. Kulu Haruna Abubakar will serve in Tunis (Tunisia).
Other non-career postings include Engr. Abasi Braimah to Budapest (Hungary), Erelu Angela Adebayo to Lisbon (Portugal), Oluwayimika Ayotunwa to Tokyo (Japan), Chioma Ohakim to Warsaw (Poland), Olufemi Pedro to Canberra (Australia), Mohammed Aliyu to Buenos Aires (Argentina), Joseph Sola Iji to Moscow (Russia), and Jerry Manwe to Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago).
Among career ambassadors, Ambassador Mohammed Mahmud Lele will serve in Algiers (Algeria), Ambassador Shehu Barde in Accra (Ghana), and Ambassador Aminu Nasir in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
Ambassador Ibrahim Danlami has been posted to Nairobi (Kenya), Ambassador Ayeni Adebayo to Brussels (Belgium), and Ambassador Akande Wahab to Berne (Switzerland).
Other career postings include Ambassador Nwabiola Ezenwa (Côte d’Ivoire), Besto Maimuna Ibrahim to Niamey (Niger); Ahmed Mohammed Monguno to Cairo (Egypt); Ambassador Jane Adams to Kingston (Jamaica); and Ambassador Clark-Omeru Alexandra to Lusaka (Zambia).
Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru will serve in New Delhi (India), Ambassador Abdussalam Habu Zayyad in Dakar (Senegal), Abubakar Musa in N’Djamena (Chad), Ambassador Haidara Mohammed Idris in The Hague (Netherlands), and Ambassador Bako Adamu Umar in Rabat (Morocco).
Additional career postings include Ambassador Sulu Gambari to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ambassador Romata Mohammed to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania); Ambassador Shaga John to Gaborone (Botswana); Hamza Salau to Tehran (Iran); and Ibrahim Adeola Mopelola to Cotonou (Benin).
Ambassador Wasa Segun Ige will serve in Beirut (Lebanon), Ruben Abimbola Samuel in Rome (Italy), Ambassador Onaga Ogechukwu in Maputo (Mozambique), Ambassador Magaji Umar in Kinshasa (DR Congo), and Ambassador Arewa Esther in Windhoek (Namibia).
Other postings include Chima Geoffrey David to Bamako (Mali), Ambassador Odumah Yvonne to Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Monica Okwuchukwu to São Tomé (São Tomé and Príncipe), Endoni Syndoph to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Ambassador Gergadi Joseph to Libreville (Gabon), Ambassador Luther Ayo-Kalata to Freetown (Sierra Leone), Danladi Yakubu to Khartoum (Sudan), and Bello Dogon-Daji to Bangkok (Thailand).
The United Kingdom has already approved High Commissioner-designate Aminu Dalhatu’s appointment, and France has approved Ambassador Ayodele Oke.
“The ministry has also conveyed the nominations of the other 62 designated envoys to all the countries concerned, including a request for their agréments in line with standard diplomatic practice,” Onanuga stated.
Agrément is the formal consent granted by a receiving country to accept a diplomat designated by the sending government, and it is required before an ambassador can take office.
Tinubu has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately begin an induction program for ambassadors-designate and high commissioners.
After the Committee on Foreign Affairs screened all 65 ambassadorial nominees, the Senate confirmed them in December 2024.
The postings comprise a combination of political appointees (non-career ambassadors) and professional diplomats from the Foreign Service (career ambassadors).
Nigeria has diplomatic missions in over 100 countries worldwide, with embassies, high commissioners, and consulates acting as the country’s representatives in bilateral and international negotiations.
The latest major ambassadorial postings occurred in 2017 during the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, leaving numerous Nigerian missions without substantive ambassadors for extended periods of time.
The ambassadors designate are anticipated to take up their duties after finishing the induction program and gaining approval from their host nations.
