Chamber backs Buhari on reduction of 199 Nigeria’s foreign missions

THE Abuja Chamber of commerce and Industry Limited has thrown its weight behind President Mohammadu Buhari’s decision to reduce Nigeria’s 199 foreign missions scattered across the globe.

The President of the chamber, Tony Ejikeonye who stated this at the weekend, explained that the decision was timely as it would reduce unnecessary burden on the economy.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari recently ordered a review of Nigeria’s foreign missions with the aim of reducing them to increase efficiency.

According to report, Buhari also directed that a presidential committee be formed to carry out a holistic exercise on the foreign missions. At the moment, the country has a total of  119 foreign missions which President Buhari said would be too expensive to maintain due to the economic  downturn.

His word; “We support any initiative and action the government undertakes that will plug wastages and indeed trim down on certain expenditures of government. We therefore have expectation that as the presidential review committee is about to be inaugurated, they should in the course of their assignment put in place measure that would enhance those missions”.

He said viable Nigeria foreign missions should be enhanced and non viable ones may be merged. According to him, the committee should explore the use of having regional missions than to have a country by country mission.

Ejinkeonye also called on President Buhari to still look for other ways of pruning down the cost of governance at all levels. 

He also called on government to decentralise some of the ministries whose services are needed at the rural area but concentrated in the capital.

“Most civil servants are concentrated in the urban areas but we equally need their services in the rural areas and so it is just to spread them out. 

“You find, for instance, that in a ministry where the bulk of its workers are supposed to be in rural areas, a lot of them are in Abuja.