Buhari Set To Close Down Some Nigerian Embassies Abroad

President Muhammadu Buhari has on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review the size and number of Nigeria’s foreign missions abroad.

This disclosure was made known after he was briefed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bulus Lolo.

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.

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.”

To this end, he said a committee will be set up to look at the whole issue of Nigeria’s representations abroad.

Buhari said that there was no point operating missions all over the world with dilapidated facilities and demoralised staff when the need for some of the missions was questionable.