The Senate on Tuesday 15th November, 2016 confirmed the President’s nomination of 47 career ambassadorial nominees. It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had forwarded the list of 47 career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation since June, 2016.
Presenting the report of the Committee, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sen. Monsurat Sunmonu (APC:Oyo), noted that following the president’ submission of the list of career ambassadorial nominees for the Senate’s consideration, a plethora of petitions on alleged irregularities and lopsidedness of the list of nominees was received by the committee, who investigated the matter and submitted its recommendations to the senate in July, 2016.
In addition, she mentioned that the Committee had obtained the curriculum vitae, tax clearance, code of conduct acknowledgement slip, police and DSS report of each nominee prior to their screening in Senate and assessed each nominee on their appearance, composure, presentation, special skills, knowledge of diplomacy and general knowledge in the full glare of the public and the press.
Furthermore, Sen. Sunmonu mentioned that about 14 nominees fell short of the Executive’s requirement of a minimum of 30 months remaining period of service before retirement and highlighted the inability of some nominees to recite the National Anthem and Pledge. However, she reminded the Senate of recording similar situations in past screening exercises due to anxiety.
Deliberating on the report, legislators expressed different views on whether the career ambassadorial nominees who could not recite the National Anthem and Pledge and who fall short of a minimum of 30 months service remaining period of service before retirement should be confirmed as ambassadors. For instance, Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP:Delta) said it was disgraceful that some nominees could not recite the National Anthem and Pledge and suggested that they should have been removed at the screening stage. However, Sen. Tijanni Kaura (APC:Zamfara) took a different view and called for Senate’s approval of the 47 nominees to ensure adequate representation in Nigerian missions abroad.
The Senate also approved the Committee’s recommendation that President Buhari send a fresh list of political ambassadorial nominees in light of several petitions received by its Committee on Foreign Affairs on the matter.
