Recession forces FG to close 9 foreign missions

- The federal government has approved the closure of nine foreign missions

- They will be converted to non-residency representation or concurrent accreditation

- The move is part of measures to reduce the cost of running Nigeria’s foreign representations due to the economic recession

The federal government has approved the closure of nine foreign missions as part of its measures to reduce the cost of running Nigeria’s foreign representations due to the economic recession.

The government also:

1. Reduced the number of officers at foreign missions

2. Stopped posting staff of home ministries to foreign missions and

3. Approved the training of foreign service officers to carry out multiple tasks, including administration, immigration, trade, culture and education related functions.

This was disclosed by President Muhammadu Buhari, while declaring open an induction course for newly appointed career ambassadors at the NIA headquarters in Abuja on Monday, December 19.

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President Buhari said: “We are optimistic that the external factors that partly contributed to push our economy into recession will ebb in 2017.

“Until then, I regret that the resources available to fund our missions abroad will not be as robust as we would like.

“We are working hard to turn around our national economy by effectively reforming our macroeconomic environment through measures, some of which were outlined in my budget speech to the National Assembly last week.

“As we are all making great sacrifices at home, we also expect you to similarly make judicious use of the resources put at the disposal of your missions.

“As Heads of missions, you will be held accountable for the utilisation of all resources under your control. These are lean times, and all of us are expected to do more with less.”

READ ALSO: Recession will end in 2017 – President Buhari tells Nigerians

Meanwhile, Nigeria is looking for financial and legal advisers and trustee firms as preparations are in top gear to organise the country's first Islamic bond in the domestic market.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) is working on a debut sovereign sukuk but has yet to determine the size of a potential deal.

Nigeria needs to raise funds to plug a budget deficit as the economic recession in the country bites harder.

Source: Legit.ng