ABUJA- President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, declared that his administration will undertake a review of the nation’s foreign missions to determine those that are really essential.
This is even as he met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo behind closed doors for about one hour in his office at the presidential villa. Details of the meeting were unknown as at the time of filing this report.
Efforts by journalists to get words from Obasanjo on the visit did not succeed as the former president declined to speak on the matter. The visitor who was being accompanied to his vehicle at 4:17pm, by his host, President Buhari, simply struck journalists with “comot joor.”
President Buhari had on August 21 named former President Obasanjo as his Special Envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in Guinea Bissau. On the preferences for foreign missions, President Buhari, who had just been briefed by the Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, noted that a Presidential Committee will soon be established to carry out the review.
He further explained that the review will determine the number of essential missions Nigeria needs to maintain abroad so that appropriate standards and quality can be maintained.
According to the President, there was no point in Nigeria operating missions all over the world “with dilapidated facilities and demoralized 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,” President Buhari told Ambassador Lob and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The President also called for the record of former government officials and other persons still using diplomatic and official passports illegally, saying that his administration will 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 stressed.
Earlier, Ambassador Lob had told President 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.
