President Bola Tinubu has forwarded a new batch of non-career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate.
The new nominees include the immediate past Sole Administrator of Rivers State and former Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; former presidential aide, Ita Enang; former Imo State First Lady, Chioma Ohakim; and former Minister of Interior and former Chief of Army Staff, Abdulrahman Dambazau.
The nominations were announced on Thursday during plenary, after Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the president’s letter on the floor of the chamber.
In the letter, Tinubu urged the Senate to give swift consideration to the nominees to help fill key diplomatic positions.
Akpabio referred the list to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs with a directive to screen the nominees and report back within one week.
The President sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, days after he sent the first batch of three names.
Among them are the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmud Yakubu, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri (Delta), and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, among others.
“In two separate letters to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu asked the Senate to consider and confirm 15 nominees expeditiously as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors,” read a statement on Saturday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
In the statement titled, ‘Tinubu nominates 32 additional ambassadors,’ Onanuga noted, “There are four women on the career ambassadors’ list and six women on the non-career ambassadors’ list.”
“The new nominees are expected to be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains excellent and strategic bilateral relations, such as China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, and to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.
“All the nominees will know their diplomatic assignments after their confirmation by the Senate,” it added.
