By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama to immediately withdraw the letter directing Nigerian foreign missions and embassies to disregard the appropriation act.

Recall that the House upon a motion last week discovered that a letter was written to the embassies, asking the ambassadors not to spend funds appropriated to them by the National Assembly without a recourse to the supervising ministry headquartered in  Abuja. 

Considering the motion, the House summoned the minister for explanation on why the ministry will flout an act of parliament.

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At a meeting with the minister, Gbajabiamila who gave a highlight of the challenges being faced by Nigerian missions and embassies in running their offices asked Onyeama to immediately withdraw the letter.

He counselled the minister on the need to bring an amendment to the bill on areas the executive was not comfortable with.

He said: “The issues with our foreign embassies and ambassadors and people who work for Nigeria abroad. Ordinarily, the issue would have been a very narrow issue. There is a law in palce. It needs to be obeyed. That should have been the single narrow issue. I think it is necessary to give a background as to the reason the law is there in the first place. 

“We did not just wake up one day and pull something out of the hat and say we want to put this clause. For every law there is a reason for it. And the reason for it is very simple. I have been all over the world for one official duty or the other and then, of  course, the first port of call is always the embassy. 

“Honestly unless we want to kid ourselves, it makes you very unproud to be a Nigerian. The state of affairs of where these people are. What they are doing and their lifestyle. What it leads to sometimes even to corruption and you cannot even blame them. Even within Africa or outside of Africa.  We call people ambassadors. I think the meaning of ambassador is very clear. They are a reflection of Nigeria. 

“But when an ambassador does not have a car or his car is 15 years old and it breaks down every single time on the road, the car has even broken down with me in it before. And they had to hurriedly roll up the Nigerian flag and put it in their pockets to avoid embarrassment. You go to an embassy, the toilet is not working. 

“You ask them why. They say there is no money. You go into an embassy the air conditioners have packed up. I can go on and on. That is what got us here.   I cannot begin to tell you what I have seen and what I have heard. 

“Hon Minister, I know you are very exposed. I have known you for sometime even before politics and I know that you will not stand for this.  That is why we thought this is what we need to do. Insert a clause that would allow these people remove the red tape. Remove the bureaucratic red tape and allow these people to to do what they need to do. If anyone is found wanting, the law is there. Anyone that breaches the law would face the penalty. 

“But we cannot in the name of saying they would breach the law allow Nigeria and Nigerians to suffer.  You hear of people withholding the green passport or visas because they are trying to generate money. Taking bribes to give people visas and passports because they are trying to generate money, because money is not forthcoming from their home country.  There is no point in us appropriating money and the money is not used. A lot of research and homework has been done before we got to this stage. And I know you are supposed to be working with Special Duties. More or less Special Duties is supposed to be oversighting you, but quite honestly, the feedback we have gotten from Special Duties is not something we can say. 

“We always talk about other countries and compare ourselves to other countries and want to be like them. But to hear that a Ministry is issuing directives, issuing letters to foreign embassies not to comply with the law as passed by the National Assembly, to be that is a no-no. If you are not happy with the law just like if you are not happy with a court judgment, there are processes. You amend the law or you appeal the court’s judgment. You don’t tell somebody not to obey the court  judgement. 

“In fact you will be cited for contempt and this is a seperate arm of government for the purposes of checks and balances, it is why you have the legislative arm of government.  I am just going to appeal to you for want of a better word that if you are not satisfied with the law that has been passed by the National Assembly, let the executive bring an amendment. Whether the amendment would be agreed to I do not know. But that is the process. If all of us were going around saying don’t obey then we are in a jungle, not in a democracy. 

“So for me, that is the baseline that we need to first of all withdraw that letter being an illegal letter and a letter that is unconstitutional and a letter that is disrespectful to the National Assembly. It needs to be withdrawn. They need to comply with the law as passed until such a time when that law is reversed.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister expressed hope of a fruitful deliberation with the Speaker.

“We are here to discuss matters of national importance and we are gratified and appreciate the opportunity for us to sit around the table to discuss these issues and I think at the end of the day, what I can say is that from the executive side and the legislative side, that we are all essentially here to promote the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. 

“That is our guiding principle and philosophy and that is what we would do to the best of our ability. Thank you for convening this meeting. Hopefully it would be something that would enable us and all of the country to move forward in the best interest of our citizens”, Onyeama said.