Nigeria to exit 90 international organisations
– Nigeria is set to exit 90 international organisations from the 310 it is a member
– Kemi Adeosun said these organisations required Nigeria’s financial participation
– She said reducing the group freed the country of some of these obligations
The Federal Government says it will trim down Nigeria’s membership of over 310 international organisations and associated financial obligations to save the nation from possible financial embarrassment.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this known when she addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council sitting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
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According to her, the annual commitment by Nigeria to these organisations stands at $70m. “Basically, Nigeria is member of 310 international organisations and a committee was set up to review the rationale for our continued membership of such a large number of organisations, particularly in the light of the fact that in many cases, we are not actually paying financial obligations and subscriptions, which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad.
“It was discussed (at the FEC) that there were commitments made to some international organisations by former government which were not cash-backed,’’ said the minister. She said the committee set up by the Federal Government to review the nation’s membership of the international organisations had recommended that the country should retain membership of 220 out of the 310 organisations.
However, the minister said the council had directed the committee to further look into their recommendations, with a view to reconciling the conflicting financial figures meant to be paid as subscription fees by Nigeria.
“Our subscriptions are in arrears in a number of major organisations. So, the directive of the council is that we should go and reconcile those figures and come back to the Council and have a payment plan to avoid Nigeria being embarrassed internationally,” Adeosun said. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Senate invited the minister of budget and national planning, Udoma Udo Udoma and his finance counterpart, Kemi Adeosun, over the lack of funding of the 2017 budget.
The duo were summoned following a motion on the stabilizing and sustaining post-recession growth of the economy which was raised during plenary on Tuesday, September 26.
