Buhari Shuts Down 9 Embassies [SEE LIST]

 

President Muhamamdu Buhari-led federal government has approved the closure of nine foreign missions and their conversion to non-residency representation or concurrent accreditation, DailyTrust gathered.

It was gathered that the new development is part of measures to reduce the cost of running Nigeria’s foreign representations in line with the economic situation.

The affected missions are those whose absence portend no serious bilateral or diplomatic effect sources told DailyTrust.

They include:

- 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.

The government also ordered that posting staff of home ministries to foreign missions should be discontinued, while Foreign Service officers should be trained to carry out multiple tasks including administration, immigration, trade, culture and education related functions.

According to DailyTrust, a letter from the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama dated June 8, 2016, said the practice of violating staffing ceilings for each mission must be stopped and corrective measures be put in place.