Foreign Affairs Ministry committed to change agenda – Onyeama
NAN-H-136
Commitment
By Cecilia John
Abuja, Feb. 14, 2017(NAN) Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, says the ministry remains committed to effective and successful implementation of strategies for the realisation of Federal Government’s change agenda.
He made this known while defending the ministry’s 2017 budget before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the ministry would not relent in leveraging on its mandate to ensure that the country’s foreign relations were enhanced.
According to him, besides rendering consular assistance to visiting Nigerians and those in the Diaspora, the principal responsibility of the ministry is the implementation of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
“The ministry pursues its mandate through its various diplomatic missions spread across the globe and in close partnership with the National Assembly,’’ he said.
Presenting 2016 Budget performance, Onyeama said that out of N46.5 billion appropriated, N7.1 billion was for capital expenditure, while N39. 4 billion was for recurrent expenditure.
According to him, the capital budget was approved for capital projects at the headquarters, overseas missions and five agencies under the ministry.
He stressed that recurrent expenditure, which comprised personnel and overhead costs were fully funded.
The minister, however, decried that the allocation to Nigerian Missions suffered drastic reduction following fall in Naira’s value against major international currencies, especially the US Dollar.
He said that the 2017 recurrent budget proposal of the ministry was N56.9 billion, explaining that personnel cost was N35.6 billion, N21.3 billion for overhead, while capital expenditure was proposed at N9.8 billion.
In her remarks, Chairperson of the committee, Sen. Monsurat Sunmonu, expressed concern that the capital allocation to missions was not encouraging.
She said that while so little was budgeted for capital expenditure in the missions, the capital expenditure for the headquarters was huge.
According to her, the 2017 capital expenditure of N3.1 billion for missions and N6.3 billion for the headquarters is not appropriate.
The chairman stated that the foreign missions required more capital vote than the headquarters. (NAN)
CJM/NNL/AK/OPI
Edited by Akin Makanjuola and Olisa Ifeajika