Dues force Nigeria out of 90 int’l organisations

the cabinet meeting. She said Nigeria’s inability to fulfil its obligations to such organisations has become a source of embarrassment.

She revealed that international organisations had begun to chase Nigeria for the money owed them.

The minister put the nation’s annual subscriptions to international organisations at $70 million in addition to a lot of arrears.

Adeosun, who did not name the organisations the nation was withdrawing from, emphasised that former Nigerian presidents made commitments that were not cash-backed.

She said the nation currently owed far more than the $120 million presented by the inter-ministerial committee on the status of Nigeria’s membership of international organisations and associated financial obligations.

She said the Executive Council Federal directed that the figures be reconciled and a payment plan be made in order to avoid international embarrassment.

She said the FEC also ordered that circulars be issued about who is authorised to commit Nigeria “because it was discovered it could be a director or an ambassador who attended the meeting who committed subscription on behalf of Nigeria. Of course, the international organisations then begin to chase us for its money.”

Adeosun maintained that the country needed to tighten up the procedures of committing it to any form of subscriptions or donations to international organisations.

She stated: “Basically, Nigeria is a member of 310 international organizations and a committee was set up to review the rationale of our continued membership of such a large number of our organizations, particularly in the light of the fact that in many cases, we are not actually paying our financial obligations and subscriptions which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad.

“In particular, it was discussed that there are some commitments made to international organizations made by former presidents which were not cash backed. So, when our delegations turned up at those organizations, we become very embarrassed. That was what drove the committee.

“The committee made some recommendations. One, that out of the 310 organizations, 220 organizations should be retained and the rest we should withdraw membership from.

“But council directed that more work needed to be done, particularly there was a dispute as to the figure of how much is owed. The committee had a figure of about $ 120 million, but we are hear from the Ministry of Finance and other ministries that it is far more than that. Our subscriptions are in arrears in a number of major organizations.

“The committees are due to come back in the next two weeks with the final figures. And then, ministers were then asked to look at the recommendations of those international organisations which we want to withdraw from and ensure that they are in support of those decisions before we will finalize the work on this issue.

“So, basically, this is just prudence and value for money. Nigeria doesn’t need to be a member of every single organizations but those we are members of, we have made a decision as FEC that we must prioritize and pay our obligations because that is part of the nation’s image.

“That is what gives Nigeria as a country the right to sit up very straight at international meetings. When you haven’t paid up your subscriptions, you can’t necessary do so.

“The subscription is $70 million per annum and there are lots and lots of arrears.