As Economic Crunch Bites Harder, Buhari Shuts Down 9 Foreign Missions
President Muhamamdu Buhari[/caption]
As the Nigeria economy enters recession, President Muhamamdu Buhari has approved the closure of nine foreign missions and their conversion to non-residency representation or concurrent accreditation.
A letter dated June 8, from the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, said there should be a review of the staff strength necessary for each mission.
“Rules and regulations as well as entitlements (estacode) for local travels at post should be reviewed downwards and strict compliance enforced. Similarly, cost and usage of communication and utility services should be reviewed and drastically reduced, and the current entitlement of house maids for senior officers other than the heads of mission and deputy chiefs of mission, where applicable should be discontinued,” the letter read.
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The affected missions are 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.
Going by Kyari’s letter, 119 Nigeria’s foreign missions will be affected by the rationalization while other missions are to be run by an ambassador and not more than three home-based staff.
Reacting to the development, a retired diplomat, Ambassador Chive Kaave, said the move sends a signal to the world that Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape.
