The Federal Government said it had identified five foreign missions it would shut down as part of measures to cut the cost of maintaining its 119 missions worldwide.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, said this in Abuja on Thursday while briefing newsmen on the achievements of the current administration in the past two years.
Onyeama, who did not identify the embassies to be shut down, said the process for closure was underway and was also subject to the approval of the President.
“We do not want to indicate the embassies that will be closed yet because we are in the process of submitting the proposals, the cost analysis and also the political analysis we did to the President.
“When he sees that, he may or may not want to close some, so we have not yet reached the stage of closing some,” he said.
The minister noted that closing the foreign missions was “extremely expensive.”
“The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run, it will be more economical,” he stressed.
The minister added that the closure of the missions was in line with the agenda of the administration.
