President Muhammadu Buhari is thinking of cutting down on Nigerian foreign missions and would be reduced only to those that are really essential.
Speaking after being briefed by the Permanent Secretary in the federal ministry of foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, President Buhari said that a Presidential Committee will soon be established to carry out the review.
He said that the review will determine the number of essential missions Nigeria needs to maintain abroad so that appropriate standards and quality can be maintained.
The President said that there is no point for Nigeria to be operating missions all over the world “with dilapidated facilities and demoralized staff” when the need for some of the missions was questionable.
“Let’s keep only what we can manage. We can’t afford much for now. There’s no point in pretending.”
President Buhari asked Ambassador Lolo and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit the record of former government officials and other persons still using diplomatic and official passports illegally to hom,
He threatened that his administration will take necessary action against such people, adding: “something has to be done so that we can get back our respectability as a country. Some people carry official passports and get involved in all sorts of negative acts. We need to do something about it.”
Ambassador Lolo told President Buhari that the challenges facing the Ministry included the absence of a Foreign Service Commission, poor funding of foreign missions, policy inconsistencies and training deficiencies, among others. [myad]
