Nigeria has begun a process to exit 90 international organisations out of 310 she currently belongs to.
The decision is coming after accumulating backlog of $120 million in membership dues and other financial commitments, estimated at $70 million annually.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja, did not name the particular organisations, but said the committee was given two weeks within which to review the recommendations after which a final decision will be taken by FEC.
Adeosun said the cabinet considered the report of an inter-ministerial committee, which made the recommendations.
Some of the international organisations Nigeria belonged include the African Development Bank (ADB), African Union (AU), Commonwealth of Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Group of 15, G-19, Group of 24 and Group of 77.
She explained that the decision was taken because of the huge debts Nigeria was accumulating by her membership of some many of them with little or no benefits.
Hear her: “Basically, Nigeria is a member of 310 international organisations and a committee was set up to review the rationale of our continued membership of such a large number of our organisations, 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 were some commitments made to international organisations by former presidents, which were not cash backed. So, when our delegations turned up at those organizations, we become very embarrassed. So, that was what drove the committee.
“The committee made some recommendations, that out of the 310 organisations, 220 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.”
