Real Reason Nigeria Exiting 90 International Organisations

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has revealed that the Federal Government decided to trim down Nigeria’s membership of over 310 international organisations and associated because of financial obligations and safeguard the country from possible financial embarrassment.

She made this known on Wednesday when addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Villa, Abuja.

“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 subscription which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad,” she said.

“It was discussed (at the council) that there were commitments made to some international organisations by former government which were not cash-backed.”

According to the minister, the annual commitment by Nigeria to these organisations stands at $70 million.

She stated that the committee set up by the government to review the nation’s membership of those international organisations 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 to the organisations 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 council and have a payment plan to avoid Nigeria being embarrassed internationally,” Adeosun said.

On the 2017 budget which was signed in June, the minister described as misleading the assertion that the federal government was facing challenges in the implementation of the budget.

“There is really no problem at all, we are on course and preparing for the next set of releases,” she told the correspondents.

The minister maintained that the federal government was committed to infrastructure expenditure that would continue to put the economy on the path of growth.

Adeosun reiterated that the Buhari administration had issued more funds for capital projects than previous administrations in the country.