President Buhari Closes nine foreign missions

The closure of nine foreign missions has
been approved by the federal government
– The affected missions are those whose
absence portend no serious bilateral or
diplomatic effect
– Months back, Buhari had said his
administration would undertake a review of
Nigerian foreign missions to determine those
that are really essential
– A retired diplomat, Ambassador Chive
Kaave, said the move sends a signal to the
world that Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape
– A professor of Political Science at the
University of Ilorin, Hassan Saliu, said the
move would harm Nigeria’s standing in the
international community
The President Muhamamdu Buhari-led federal
government has approved the closure of nine
foreign missions and their conversion to non-
residency representation or concurrent
accreditation.
Daily Trust reports that the closure is part of
measures to reduce the cost of running
Nigeria’s foreign representations in line with
the economic situation.
The affected missions are 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.