Two ambassadorial nominees, on Tuesday, failed to recite the national anthem and the pledge properly before a senate screening committee. The would-be ambassadors are Vivian Okeke from Anambra state and Ibrahim Isa from Niger state.
Monsurat Sunmonu, chairman senate committee on foreign affairs, had asked the nominee from Anambra state to recite the national anthem, but she muddled it up.
Alhaji Ibrahim Bida, from Niger state currently serving in Turkey shockingly failed to recite the Nigeria National anthem when asked to do so by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. Ibrahim, who is among the 47 ambassadorial nominees currently being screened, began stammering having introduced himself successfully and on getting to singing the pledge, it became difficult for him as he began to mix up the wordings. The entire 8-man Committee including its Chairman, Senator Munsirat Sunmonu burst into laughter, until James Manager intervened in completing the anthem. Pressed further on his knowledge of foreign economic blue print, the nominee explained succinctly how China got their economic prosperity right because their President as at the time of their recession decided to shut its doors against import from other nations and was busy rebuilding China through domestic policy approach. The nominee also stressed that if Nigeria could configure its foreign policies with the interest of benefiting from resources abroad, it would help the situation immensely.
The exclusion of some states from the pool of nominees had ignited a controversy, but the government explained that some states were excluded because they did not have qualified career diplomats.