Nigeria to close five foreign missions 'to save cost'
The federal government has approved the closure of five foreign missions and embassies, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said.
Onyeama told journalists in Abuja on Thursday, but he did not name the affected embassies or missions. He said the process for closure was underway and was also subject to the approval of the President.
“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.
He also reiterated that the closing missions abroad were “extremely expensive”.
“The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run it will be 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.
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