By Vincent Ikuomola AbujaReasons have emerged on why the posting of the 95 Ambassadors-designate will not be made public for now.President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday approved the posting of the Ambassadors-designate five months after they received the nod from the Senate.The announcement followed a report by The Nation on Sunday that five months after the Senate screening and clearance, the ambassadors-designate were yet to be posted.The report also said there was no communication from the Presidency or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter.The Nation however gathered it is not yet Uhuru for the ambassadors-designate despite posting approval by the President.The Ambassadors-designate still need to get letters of acceptance or is known in diplomatic circles as agreemo before they can be considered posted.According to sources in the diplomatic circles, Tuesdays presidential approval was just the first step towards posting of the Ambassadors-designate.It is a blanket approval granted by the President, which authorises the ministry to commence sending letters out to the various host countries for acceptance of the appointees.According to sources, until the Ambassadors-designate are accepted by their host countries, they cannot be posted.One of the sources explained until an Ambassador-designate receives letter of acceptance or what is called agreemo, he or she is not considered posted.The source said this is why there are always reserve countries for the Ambassadors-designate.Another source in the diplomatic circle explained that the process differs from country to country.The source said the process might take up to a month for some countries like US, UK, Canada and the rest while for some countries it can take like a week.If an Ambassador-designate is rejected, he or she can be posted to another country.The 95 Ambassadors-designate will pick up their letters on Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, The Nation has learnt.On why the ministry did not release the names and postings of the envoys as approved by the Presidency, the ministrys spokesman Ferdinand Nwonye said confirmation of agreemo from the prospective host countries is crucial in posting of envoys.An agreemo is a memorandum from one nation to another agreeing to the appointment of an ambassador or envoy.Nwonye noted that agreemo in diplomatic courtesy requires that before a state appoints a new envoy to represent it in another state, it must be first ascertained whether the proposed appointee is acceptable to the receiving state.According to him, the acceptance of the receiving host state is signified by its granting its agreement to the appointment.
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