IN defence of its action, the Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday said the recent appointment of ambassadors for Nigeria's foreign missions was done purely on merit and seniority as well as application of the federal character provision to keep up with international best practice in diplomacy.
In a statement yesterday, the ministry described as dangerous a rumour making the rounds that the exercise was characterised by sentiments and religious interference, as only four of the 25 ambassador-designates are Moslems.
Dismissing the rumour, the ministry said: " The objective of the rumour is to imply that one religion is being favoured at the expense of the other. Nothing can be farther from the truth. In peddling this rumour, the intention obviously is not to serve the cause of truth but to score cheap political points in this season of politicking."
According to the ministry, in making career appointments, it has always been guided by "clear principles including federal character/geographical balance,
and seniority. In addition, a third criterion of gender-sensitivity was applied by which the ministry sought to comply with global and United Nations standards on the representation of women in public service."
It said further that the present appointments were necessitated by "the retirement of a number of career foreign service officers who had reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 or 35 years of service. Thus, the appointment of 25 ambassadors was made to reflect the state of origin of these retired officers."
In a breakdown of appointment per state made available to The Guardian yesterday, Ogun State had the highest number of appointees (five) while Kaduna and Kano had four each. Borno, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Gombe, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Niger and Rivers states had three representatives. The states of Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Imo, Kwara, Nassarawa, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara have two ambassadors appointed. Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had the least number with just one each.
Responding to enquiries on the claims of imbalance in the appointments, the Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, noted that "the ministry is a professional service. Of supreme importance in all these considerations is the fact that at the point of recruitment of foreign service officers, the federal civil service commission ensured full compliance with the principle of federal character. Accordingly, the progression of officers up to the point at which they are deemed appointable as ambassadors requires that these officers satisfy all service requirements, including success in mandatory examinations."
The new ambassadors now await posting to various missions.
Source: Ministry denies bias in appointment of 25 envoys (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44788:ministry-denies-bias-in-appointment-of-25-envoys&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)