Former Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun, has advised the Federal Government to reduce its embassies to avoid embarrassment.
He spoke while presenting a paper ‘A hegemon in a peripheral region of the world: the future of Nigeria’s foreign policy’, at a lecture organised by the Nigerian Society of International Affairs on Monday in Lagos.
Osuntokun, a History professor explained that it was better for Nigeria to adopt concurrent accreditation and representation for the protection of its image.
He said, “There is no need to have the current 109 or so embassies abroad that are poorly funded and that are an embarrassment to the nation. There may be need for rationalisation without sacrificing the principle of reciprocity.
“Other affluent countries in the world are doing the same thing and there is no need for Nigeria to have missions in each and all African countries as it is currently done. We can still reduce our representation in Europe without damage to our vital economic and political relations and to the principle of reciprocity.”
Wondering why the Federal Government refused to empower the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the former envoy urged the government to define its national interest and pursue it.
He added, “What the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs is not just money, it also needs management skills required to husband and apply the resources it gets. The right kind of people with appropriate training and re-training would have to be recruited into the Ministry on merit and the level of representation must also be scaled down to match the level of funding.”
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, who chaired the occasion, said there was the need for the harnessing of the nation’s potential to enable it to have power and influence.
CULLED FROM: PUNCH NEWSPAPERS
February 26, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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