The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, has said that the closure of Nigerian mis­sions abroad is inevitable.
He admitted that it is ex­pensive to close a country’s embassy but quickly added that in the long run the pol­icy will be beneficial to Nige­rians.
Onyeama expressed the views at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday.
He 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.
Onyeama said: “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.
“But in the long run it will be cheaper, but in the imme­diate and short term it is ex­pensive but we have started the process,” he said.-The Authority