Ministry to rejig envoys, others in foreign service overhaul

[TGD]

 Experts differ on plan to shut missions

A MAJOR reorganisation of the country's foreign service by the Federal Government billed to take place soon may lead to the redeployment of certain ambassadors and other serving officers.

The reorganisation involves the empowerment of officers for a vigorous pursuit of the economic component of the newly defined foreign policy that is in favour of investment drive as well as the protection of Nigerians and Nigeria's interests anywhere in the world.

Top sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where briefs are currently being prepared for departing officers told The Guardian that in the aftermath of the screening by the Senate, a critical part of implementing the reform agenda of government was the enlistment of career foreign service officers and other political appointees.

The duties of these officials will include the implementation of all the recommendations of the international relations experts as well as those of the intelligentsia brought together recently in Abuja by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) on foreign relations.

The decision to embark on a major reorganisation of the nation's foreign service may have stemmed from the growing concerns on the need to tackle the challenges of the missions.

Before now, the activities of most Nigerian missions abroad had been comatose due to poor funding while Nigerians were persistently bored by the mere avowal of the readiness to protect Nigerian lives and interests abroad.

Nigeria currently has 105 missions abroad. Inclusive of consulates, they were initially 102, up from the 97 in early 1999.

A source told The Guardian during the week: "Following the screening (Senate clearance), government is now moving in the direction of having more missions too. The reorganisation is going to be thorough. The idea is also to help achieve the transformation agenda. Consequently, only officers with the requisite experience in certain regions and skills relevant in the emerging economic trends of such regions will be appointed and posted to such places. We want to be also sector-specific. For instance, if an officer has been in the inspectorate department, he should be sent to an outpost where his cumulative experience would be useful to the Nigerian diplomatic enterprise.

"Similarly, if you have an officer who read Islamic Studies before joining the service, such would be deployed to the region where an understanding of such background is needed for the sort of penetration required in order to make a success of that particular outpost, given the challenges and emerging trends in that region, and so on... the era of lobbying for posting is gone. It is about what you can deliver, it is about what we all as the drivers of the process can collectively deliver for the good of Nigeria. What you find is that if this can be replicated in all ministries, agencies and parastatals, Nigeria will be a better country for it."

Last week, the nation's newly designated envoys to missions abroad were told that the business now was to embrace the economic diplomacy component of the administration to aggressively market Nigeria as a viable investment destination to the rest of the world.

In accordance with sub-section 4 of section 171 (1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution, President Goodluck Jonathan submitted a list of 88 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. They are made up of 32 non-career and 56 career officers.

On the heels of the presentation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Federal Government was now poised to leverage on the appointment of some Nigerians to various international posts as well as the election of Nigeria into three United Nations agencies and boards.

Within a single diplomatic epoch, six Nigerians were recently elected and appointed into various positions in the global bodies and agencies that make up the international system.  Also at the United Nations (UN), Nigeria got elected into the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the board of UNESCO in November 2011 (a term of four years) as well as the governing board of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

 

 

In May this year, government's plan to save about N2.7 billion yearly by shutting down some foreign missions caused some disquiet, especially among the nation's career diplomats.

The proposal almost invariably meant "loss" of jobs for serving diplomats and a dimming of the hopes of others who have either reached the peak of their careers or are on the verge of doing so.

Some of the diplomats who spoke to The Guardian then also believed that the move could also sent negative signals to the affected countries where such outposts would be shut about their relevance to Nigeria, since some of the missions were only opened at the inception of the existing administration.

It appeared then that the PAC on Foreign Affairs, headed by former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, which made the recommendations, was persuaded by the cost implications of maintaining many missions when a lot of them are now said to be "idle."

Also in this regard, Presidency sources told The Guardian that efforts had been intensified by the Federal Executive to oppose a motion, which is being sponsored at the National Assembly on the need to remove ambassadorial postings from the federal character provision. The source also maintained that there were no plans to increase the number of missions abroad.

The career diplomats' grouse followed the government's refusal to appoint senior officers of levels 16 to17 as ambassadors in situ i.e. ambassadorial representatives without posting since doing so has been blocked by quota and federal character provisions.

Worse still, the military regimes between 1992 and 1998 did not appoint any career diplomat as substantive ambassador during the period. The fear then was that the closure and downgrading of more missions meant more professional casualties since the number of political appointees was increasing by the day.

Contributing to the debate, a seasoned foreign affairs analyst, Dr. Nwagu Okenmiri, lauded the proposal to cut cost.

"I think the government is only trying to cut its coat according to its size. Other countries do it, what are we doing in Bangladesh for instance? It is only in Africa that we have to be careful because of our posturing. That is why I do not foresee government closing any of our missions in either Congo Brazzaville or Congo Kinshasa even though both countries are separated by just one river. You could therefore be tempted to want to have just one mission to oversee the two on a concurrent accreditation basis."

But caution was the word from Prof. Eno Ukaeje, erstwhile head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Abuja.

Ukaeje told The Guardian: "Cost effectiveness is supreme. Who wants to have a mission where there are no returns? It will take seasoned administrators to implement this task in such a way that the goodwill generated so far with the advent of this administration is not tarnished."

One of the career diplomats currently on holidays in Abuja, who spoke to The Guardian said: "Professionalism should not be sacrificed when implementation begins. We cannot say that politicians should not be engaged but the aspirations of career diplomats who have reached their peak must not be truncated. The government must be mindful of lowering the morale of officers. The federal character provision should be given a human face. The system at present is frustrating and humiliating; many have spent half of their lives in the ministry. We are now asking for the restoration of our professional dignity."

But following the appointment of Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru as Minister of Foreign Affairs, government's thinking appears to have shifted from pruning to effective utilisation. In fact, The Guardian learnt that the drive to set up a mission in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), stems from the high traffic between both countries, which obviously necessitates the extension of consular services.

The exact amount, which the Federal Government spends on its mission abroad has always been top secret as both the Presidency and Foreign Ministry bureaucrats maintain that figures are never constant especially since security and exigency components are also built into them.



The Guardian