•Mulls prisoners transfer with China
The Federal Government may close five foreign missions and embassies, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama has said.
The minister disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.
Onyeama, who did not reveal the embassies or missions, said the process for closure was underway and was, also, subject to the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We do not want to indicate the embassies that will be closed yet because we are in the process of submitting the proposals, the cost analysis and also, the political analysis we did to the president.
“When he sees that, he may or may not want to close some, so we have not yet reached the stage of closing some,” he said.
The minister also reiterated that the closing missions abroad were “extremely expensive. The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run it will more economical.”
On April 10, the minister told the News Agency of Nigeria that closure of Nigerian missions abroad was 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 stressed that reduction of Nigeria’s foreign missions remains on the agenda of the 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.
“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 as you close it, you are saving costs but, you will actually find that the cost of closing is almost prohibitive.
“In the long run, it will be cheaper, but, in the immediate and short term, it is expensive, but, we have started the process,” said Onyeama.
Meanwhile, the federal government is working out a prisoners’ transfer agreement with the Peoples Republic of China.
Onyeama made the announcement at a news conference on the achievements of the current administration since it came into power in the past two years.
NAN reports that thousands of Nigerians are being held behind bars in China for various offences, including those attracting death sentence.
Rights groups in Nigeria have, however, been drawing the attention of the federal government to the plight of Nigerian prisoners in China The Black African Re-orientation and Development Organisation, recently urged government to secure the release of no fewer than 6,000 Nigerians in Chinese prisons.
Onyeama said release of the prisoners could not be facilitated because there was no existing agreement between Nigeria and China on transfer of prisoners.
“The issue of Nigerians in prisons in China is something we are dealing with and the prisoner transfer agreement is something we have to have an agreement on with China. We are working to have one in place. We have taken that on board and we are trying to get our prisoners to serve the rest of their terms here.”