Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna Central Senator, says members of staff of Nigerian embassies have been exploiting the country in the guise of paying rents.

“From my observation, diplomatic staffs (sic) have been fleecing this country in the name of paying rents,” Mr Sani said in an interview on Sunday.

Mr Sani, a former Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Nigeria rents about 60 per cent of the nation’s embassies, a costly affair considering the country’s economic challenges.

“I found out that we have been renting about 60 per cent of Nigerian embassies abroad, some existed as far back as 1960 and we are still unable to buy a house in those countries,” the former eight assembly senator said.

He underscored the need for an economic review of the dilapidated state of Nigerian Embassies, so as to avoid colossal loss of foreign missions.

Mr Sani opined that “Everything about the embassy should go back to the foreign affairs ministry; we should have targets, every year we should buy 10 buildings so that in five to six years, we are no longer renting.”

The former lawmaker said while Nigeria worked on buying more diplomatic houses, the country should trade off foreign properties that we may not need.

“I learnt we have a residence for Nigeria’s permanent representatives in New York and that residence has not been used for decades.

“If that residence has not been used for decades, we have no reason to keep that building, we need to sell it off, use the proceeds and buy other properties in other countries.”

He further noted that buying good diplomatic buildings could cost as much as US$2 million, adding that such should be done to chart the way forward to safeguard Nigerian embassy operations abroad.

(NAN)