By Abubakar Hashim
Apart from the two earlier stated verified reasons, of unauthenticated, bloated retirements of foreign personnel and the transition from paper to digital, investigations have further revealed that the missions are over-bloated, some ill-qualified, with some owed up to seven months’ pay.
Further impeccable investigations revealed that some Embassies receive more preferential attention than others. For instance, the Embassy in Niger Republic is accorded grade A attention than the one in Sierra Leone or in Liberia.
In this atmosphere, there is ongoing rationalisation and overhaul of the administration of the entire 109 diplomatic missions abroad, to meet the current outlook of similar missions in the new tech space.
Nigeria has been a champion in assisting other developing countries and has a threshold of significance in the comity of nations. In 1987, the Babangida administration came up with the Technical Aid Corps, TAC, program, which assists less developed countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, ACP, to bolster their development. To date, TAC is still operating.
Nigeria has also supported the liberation struggles of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Angola.
It has also been in the lead to end the wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
The current rationalisation, downsizing and transition to the tech era are mainly to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in diplomatic duties and cut down unnecessary expenditures.
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