Fashola gave this recommendation when he delivered the keynote address during the Nigeria Reputation Summit 2026 hosted by the Nigeria Reputation Management Group in Abuja.
While sharing personal experiences from his time in government, the immediate past Minister of Works stressed that Nigeria’s diplomatic effectiveness depends largely on how well its envoys understand and articulate the nation’s positions to foreign governments and investors.
“Concerning our formal ambassadors, I’m going to make recommendations based on my own experience. So, I visited an African country as a minister and was received by our ambassador in that country. Over dinner, preparatory to my meeting, I shared with him the purpose of my visit, which was a ministry-related sector issue. Ultimately, it turned out that the ambassador had no clue what Nigeria’s position on those matters were”, Fashola added.
He warned that such gaps undermine Nigeria’s interests abroad, insisting that ambassadors must be fully equipped with up-to-date policy information before deployment.
“So, now that we have appointed ambassadors, preparatory to posting, they must have handy knowledge and information to really represent us on high-level, intense sharing of policies, fiscal position, tax laws, incentives for investments, our position on oil and gas, mineral mining, how long it takes to register a business in Nigeria (among others). They must know that. It’s important, and it must be a continuing engagement,” he argued.
Fashola added that it was not too late to correct the situation and urged immediate inter-ministerial coordination to begin the process, saying “That is my first recommendation. It’s never too late. So, Honourable Minister (Idris Mohammed), I think I have the mandate of the conveners to ask you to reach out to your colleague in Foreign Affairs to start that process from today.”
The former governor also criticised the traditional approach of Nigerian ambassadors inviting ministers to visit their host countries, arguing that such trips often add little value to national development.
He said, “The other point, which comes from experience, was that over my time as minister here, very often I would get letters dispatched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to various departments, including mine. They were from our many ambassadors abroad, asking us to come and visit the countries where they were posted. And I must say today that, unfortunately, most, if not all, of those letters ended up in my shredder.”
Explaining his stance, Fashola said Nigeria should be positioning itself as the destination, not the visitor.
Other dignitaries who were present at that event include the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; the Chairman of Channels Media Group, Dr John Momoh; President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Dr Ike Neliaku, among others.
