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President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review the size and number of Nigeria’s foreign missions abroad.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Amb. Paul Bulus Lolo, spoke with State House correspondents after making presentation to President Buhari on the ministry’s activities.
According to him, Nigeria needs to review the number of its present 119 missions abroad based on Nigeria’s capacity, especially as the economy is looking down.
To this end, he said a committee will be set up to look at the whole issue of Nigeria’s representations abroad.
He said: “We also talked about the state of our embassies abroad. All of these in the context of what Nigeria aspires to be at home, in the sub-region, in the continent and across the globe.
“Mr. President asked the ministry to be realistic in terms of our representation abroad. We have 119 missions. He asked the questions whether we need to have that number or we rationalized based on our capacity. Right now, the economy is looking down. We are trying to revive and revamp. It is a matter of time.
“The specific directive that he has given is that a committee be formed to look at the whole issue of our representation abroad, the size and the number of missions on whether or not the number should remain the same or we do something about those numbers.”
On the time frame, he added: “that will be done as soon as possible. No specific time frame, but he said the sooner, the better. Action needs to be taken.”
Credit – The Nation
