Nigeria to close down 5 embassies abroad due to lack of funding

The Federal government has planned to close down no fewer than 5 of its embassies abroad due to lack of money to continue to operate them as the country’s economy continues to deteriorate.

“We do not want to indicate the embassies that will be closed yet because we are in the process of submitting the proposals, the cost analysis and also the political analysis we did to the president.

“When he sees that, he may or may not want to close some, so we have not yet reached the stage of closing some,” he said.

The minister also reiterated that the closing missions abroad were “extremely expensive”.

 “The government is following up on that and we have sort of pre­pared the roadmap; we have started the implementation of that and made also recom­mendations in that context.

“Paradoxically, closing missions is extremely expensive. At first sight it seems ob­vious that you close it you are saving cost but you will actually find that the cost of closing is almost prohibitive.

“The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run it will more economical.”

Onyeama stressed that the reduction of Nigeria’s foreign missions remains on the agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Buhari had said at the inception of his administration that the Federal Government will reduce the number of missions to save cost.

Nigeria currently has 119 foreign missions.

The minister, on April 10, said the closure of Nigerian missions abroad is inevitable.