Nigeria Receives Host-Country Approval for 65 of 69 Tinubu-Appointed Ambassadors
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has secured host-country acceptance for 65 of the 69 ambassadorial nominees put forward by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, according to Real Broadcasting Network, leaving only a handful of postings yet to clear the standard diplomatic vetting process.
The acceptance, known in diplomatic language as agrément, is required before a nominee can formally take up a posting. Each candidate’s name is forwarded to the government of the receiving state, which then reviews the nomination and signals whether it is willing to receive the envoy. The procedure is a long-standing convention under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and is intended to ensure that envoys posted abroad are persona grata in the host country.
The clearance of the bulk of the slate suggests that Nigeria’s diplomatic reset, undertaken more than two years after Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, is approaching completion. Successive Nigerian administrations have typically appointed ambassadors to a wide network of missions, ranging from permanent representation at the United Nations and the African Union to bilateral embassies across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Four of the nominees are still awaiting response from their prospective host governments. Delays are not unusual; rejections are rare but do occur, and in some cases host countries simply take longer to complete internal consultations. As Real Broadcasting Network reported, the Foreign Ministry did not identify the outstanding missions or explain the reasons for the delay.
Once the remaining clearances are received and letters of credence are exchanged, the new ambassadors are expected to be deployed to their respective stations, allowing Nigeria to fill diplomatic posts that have in some cases been vacant for an extended period.
Sources
This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.
- Real Broadcasting Network — Nigeria Secures Acceptance for 65 of 69 Tinubu- Appointed Ambassadors — Foreign Ministry
- The Sun Nigeria — 97% of Tinubu’s envoys accepted by host countries – Foreign ministry
