See What Is Going On In Nigeria’s Embassies Abroad
By Victoria Ojeme
Nigerian missions across the globe are currently experiencing financial difficulties, as they are owing months of salary arrears.
The situation, which was traced to 2016 fiscal year when all Nigerian missions experienced budget shortfall and delay in payment of overhead and personal allocations, has resulted in a situation where a lot of them now also owe huge debts to service providers in their host countries.
Those affected include the permanent missions in New York, and Washington in the U.S; Caracas, Venezuela; Brasilia, Brazil; Luanda, Angola; Bucharest, Romania; Hanoi, South Vietnam; and the worst hit with nine months salary arrears is Havana, Cuba.
9 months salary arrears in Cuba
Unlike others, the situation in the Nigerian Embassy in Havana is particularly bad as both foreign service officers and local staff have not been paid their salaries for up to nine months.
This is in addition to debts owed service providers since the last quarter of 2016.
Part of the problem that affected the mission is the economic and financial blockade of Cuba by the United States, which frowned on prohibited fund transfer to Cuba, especially in US dollars.
Most embassies in Cuba receive their allocations in euros, Canadian dollars and pound sterling. Even at this, the US heavily fines banks found to have violated this policy.
But the Nigerian Embassy was able to, through the assistance of a bank in Cuba, find a way of receiving its allocations.
Problem is with CBN
However, the main problem laid with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which is in charge of remitting all Nigerian embassies’ allocations.
For reasons best known to the bank, all the allocations were being sent through two correspondent banks, namely JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.
Unbelievably, 99.9 per cent of the allocations were being sent through JP Morgan Chase and only Cuba was given to Deutsche Bank.
The bank revolted against this and declined to send money to Cuba since the beginning of this year and CBN could not remit the funds through JP Morgan Chase because of the US policy in Cuba and no alternative was found by the bank.
However, through the efforts of the embassies in both Berlin and Cuba and the ministry, a dedicated account was opened in Berlin for the Nigerian Embassy in Cuba and when part of the fund was remitted, the bank confiscated the funds based on an order issued by a German court against the Nigerian Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, which is owing a company for services provided.
The implication is that for eight to nine months, the Nigerian Embassy in Cuba has not been able to pay its staff.
The situation in the embassy is so pathetic that officers are now surviving on their savings and salaries back home in Nigeria.
Children of officials out of schools
Besides, children of officials of the embassy have been out of schools for three months due to their inability to pay fees.
The Cuba govt reported the embassy to the ministry through its ambassador in Abuja due to the mounting debts owed service providers.
Incidentally, because all services are provided by the Cuban government due to its communist system, non-payment of debts is affecting the government, since this is one of its main sources of income.
Officers and their families could not access medical facilities designated for diplomats and expatriates. Even the children of the new ambassador, Habu Ibrahim Gwani, were refused admission in the only international school in Havana.
Because of indebtedness, the school wrote to all other schools and advised them not to admit students from the Nigerian Embassy.
Come back now or you are on your own –Ministry
Despite these difficulties being faced by the entire staff, Vanguard gathered that Final Notice of recall was sent to officers who have completed their tour of duty in Havana.
In the letter dated October 26, 2017, the ministry insisted that returning officers must leave the embassy immediately and return to Nigeria, with threat of issuing them queries if they failed to do so.
A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the that the ministry had a penchant for such behaviour.
He said: “The ministry had been doing that for years, but it is wrong that an officer will be on course and he is not been paid for nine months, How does the ministry expect the officer to feed himself and his family and do other things?
“The ministry is right to ask the officer to come back but the ministry also has the obligation to pay them before they come back. Is the ministry going to pay them in dollars or naira when the expenditure was already in dollars?”
Issue being addressed –Ministry
However, both the Nigerian Ambassador to Havana and Head of Administration declined comment when Vanguard contacted them and referred our reporter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Reacting to the story, spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Tope Elias-Fatile, said: “The issues involved are routine processes and the relevant department in the ministry is handling it.
“As we speak, there is an ongoing meeting to address these issues,” he said.
CBN reacts
Explaining CBN’s involvement in the whole scenario, spokesman of the bank, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said: “We do not react to hearsay. Please quote either the Foreign Affairs Minister or an identifiable official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This kind of question is strange to Vanguard I know.”
When told that it was not a question but a report, he said: “Why not be specific on the report. A report must emanate from somebody or official document of an institution or department.”
