There are 195 countries in the world. Apart from a few of them like Taiwan that do not have their independence yet, they are expected to have their presence in each and all of the other independent nations. This is often the reason why countries such as Nigeria have embassies in foreign countries headed by their ambassadors.
The functions of ambassadors include; Representation of their home country’s government and act as spokespersons for their nation’s interests, policies and viewpoints; Development and maintenance of diplomatic relations with the host country, work to increase trade and investment between their home and host countries, ensuring the safety and well-being of their home country’s citizens who reside or travel within their host countries, assisting in emergencies, such as natural disasters or political unrest and ensure the fair treatment of their citizens in their host countries, gathering of information on the host country’s political, social and economic developments for analysis and reportage to their home office, promotion of cultural exchange and understanding between their home and host countries, organisation of events, such as art exhibitions or educational programs, to showcase their nation’s culture and foster goodwill as well as taking part in negotiations between their home country and the host country on various issues, such as trade, security or environmental cooperation. They work towards reaching mutually beneficial agreements.
Meanwhile, Nigeria does not have ambassadors in about 110 nations of the world presently. And this means that there is a wide diplomatic gap in these countries. By extension, the nation has no one playing the roles as stated above in addition to lacking in who speaks for her in those places.
Given the harsh socio-political and economic conditions being faced by citizens, it has become imperative for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently appoint ambassadors to all the nations with vacancies for that. In addition, time has come for the 6th most populated nation in the world to add some roles to the ones already given to the nation’s heads of embassies abroad. For example, they should intentionally directly or indirectly begin to study the leadership mantra of their host countries, the insurance and social investment policies there from, their transport system, school curriculum and so on. This should be with a view to replicating them back home in Nigeria. In other words, let them dig out the secret behind the smooth way things work in these countries like Germany, USA, UK, Russia and even South Africa.
It is becoming embarrassing to note that 64 years after independence, Nigeria has no concrete plans for her senior citizens who worked hard to sustain the ideals bequeathed to her by Britain, her former colonial masters. This is unlike other foreign nations that were under the same British rule. They include the United States of America, Germany, India and others.
On job creation, the diplomats must be made to commission people in their host states to understudy the system for the purpose of unraveling the secrete behind small scale employers’ ability to pay minimum wages and make provisions for those who retire from their employ at old age.
Again, they should find out why Nigeria’s employment providers in the private sector seldom survive beyond the life span of the business founders. This is because; until there is stability in the micro and macroeconomic sector, there can never be enough room for the teeming job seekers. If LIoyd’s of London, an insurance group of companies founded by an individual in 1689 can survive and still be making waves around the world today; there is no acceptable reason to justify the inability of Nigeria-Reinsurance Company founded by the federal government of Nigeria in 1976 still struggling to make impact in the industry presently The nation must tap into the social investments and employment potentials in the insurance subsector of the economy.
Our educational system, especially from public school perspective is getting worse by the day. This is causing depletion in the nation’s intellectual base. The few properly educated citizens easily become attracted to prospering foreign nations despite huge investments on them by Nigeria. Researches are poorly funded and the experts are seldom patient enough to arrive at conclusions that can metamorphose into scientific inventions. The morale of teachers at all levels is very low. Otherwise, why has it not been possible to produce kids who can read electric circuit diagrams at the primary school stage?
In short, Nigeria must intentionally begin to pry into the working systems of other nations. The president cannot do this successfully. The envoys can be made to recruit appropriately qualified Nigerians for this purpose.
