President Considers Pruning 119 Foreign Missions to Cut Cost
President Muhammadu Buhari
• Demands list of persons in illegal possession of diplomatic passports
Tobi Soniyi in Abuja 

In order to cut the cost of governance and determine which of Nigeria’s 119 foreign missions are really essential to the nation’s trade and foreign interests, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration will undertake a review of the country’s missions abroad.
In order to cut the cost of governance and determine which of Nigeria’s 119 foreign missions are really essential to the nation’s trade and foreign interests, President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration will undertake a review of the country’s missions abroad.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Buhari would soon set up a presidential committee to carry out the review.
The president spoke after he was briefed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, on the activities of the ministry and Nigeria’s missions overseas.
The president said that the review would determine the number of essential missions Nigeria needed to maintain abroad so that appropriate standards and quality could be maintained.
He said that there was no point in Nigeria operating missions all over the world “with dilapidated facilities and demoralised staff” when the need for some of the missions was questionable.
“Let’s keep only what we can manage. We can’t afford much for now. There’s no point in pretending,” Buhari told Lolo and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also called for the records of former government officials and other persons still using diplomatic and official passports illegally, saying that his administration would take necessary action against them.
“Something has to be done so that we can get back our respectability as a country. Some people carry official passports and get involved in all sorts of negative acts. We need to do something about it,” the president said.
Lolo told Buhari that the challenges facing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs included the absence of a Foreign Service Commission, poor funding of foreign missions, policy inconsistencies and training deficiencies, among others.
On his way out of the State House, Lolo briefed journalists, stating: “Mr. President asked the ministry to be realistic in terms of our representation abroad. We have 119 missions.
“He asked whether we need to have that number or we should rationalise based on our capacity.
“Right now, the economy is down. We are trying to revive and revamp. So 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.”
When asked what would be the effect of cutting down missions abroad, he responded: “It is a function of interest and capacity. I believe what the president was saying to us is that we should cut our coat according to our material and not according to our size.”
He however added that the president did not give a deadline within which the decision to cut down on Nigeria’s missions should be concluded.
“As soon as possible. No specific time frame but he (the president) said the sooner, the better. Action needs to be taken,” he said.
The permanent secretary underscored the need for a comprehensive review of the nation’s foreign policy, stating that the last comprehensive report was done in 1986, almost 30 years ago.
He said that was enough time to look back and ask if the country was going in the right direction.
“The fundamentals of our foreign policy as defined by the objective of principles are not only sound but relevant. What change is the nuance that governments and regimes bring from time to time?
“I took him through the themes of different regimes and evolution of Nigerian government policy starting with 1975 when the slogan was ‘Africa has come of age’.
“The president when he was in power from 1983 to 1985 came up with the Concentric Circle Concept. General Babangida as president from 1985 until he stepped down came with two things: Concept of Medium Powers as well as Economic Diplomacy.
“Then under the late (Umaru) Yar'Adua, we dealt with Citizen Diplomacy and the last regime came with Transformation Agenda.
“So we are now looking at them and crystalising the priority of the present administration that has articulated security, the economy and the fight against corruption.
“All these will be important to our ministry and the missions abroad to take outside and explain to the rest of the world,” Lolo said.
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