The Senate has resolved to set up an Adhoc Committee to look into the lack of funding and reduction of Nigerian Foreign Missions across the world after a motion expressing concern over the several challenges that Nigerian missions abroad face was taken during deliberations at the Senate plenary on Tuesday, 3rd October, 2017.
Presenting the motion titled ” The Urgent need for the Federal Government to fund our Foreign Missions”, Sen. Tijanni Yahaya Kaura (APC: Zamfara) highlighted some of the challenges of the Nigerian Foreign Mission such as the Federal Government’s inability to pay the allowances of diplomatic officers, local staff salaries, rents for residences, chanceries and other sundry expenses. He also noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget envelope was grossly inadequate to meet its expenditure requirements, even at its headquarters in Abuja. In the lawmakers view, the situational analysis of the funds allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 2017 Budget would hardly provide the impetus required to achieve Nigeria’s foreign policy goals and objectives. He also described the myriad of issues and financial woes facing Nigerian missions abroad as affecting the collective and corporate image, loss of prestige and influence in the Committee of Nations.
Lastly, he noted that the challenges observed emanated principally as a result of overstaffing in foreign missions following the Ministry of Foreign Affairs deliberate refusal to comply with relevant provisions of the staff strength that depends on individual missions and the Ministry’s grading.
It could be recalled that the Federal Government in 2016, had shut down nine foreign missions due to Nigeria’s economic challenges and whose existence had no bilateral or diplomatic benefits. The affected missions included the Permanent Mission to the D-8 in Istanbul, Turkey; the Africa-South America Cooperation Forum (ASACOF) in Caracas, Venezuela; embassies in Belgrade, Serbia; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Kiev, Ukraine; Prague, Czech Republic; the High Commission in Singapore as well as Consulates in Buea, Cameroon and Sao Paulo in Brazil.
