The diplomatic community in New York is ashamed by what is happening at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations. For the past five weeks, diplomats and other U.N. officials trying to reach the Mission have been told by the phone company that the phone is disconnected.
African Ambassadors accredited to the United Nations are quite embarrassed that the so-called “big brother” and “giant” of Africa, (one Ambassador said, “spell ‘giant’ with a lowercase ‘g.’”) is increasingly bringing disgrace to the continent and more by its actions. “How can Nigeria exercise its so-called leadership when you can’t even reach its officials on the phone? This is the seat of world government, where we expect Nigeria to be the number one country, but [instead] we get this kind of embarrassment,” lamented an African Ambassador.
Even the U. S. Mission to the United Nations, located at First Avenue and 45th St., had to send an emissary to the Nigerian Mission to find out why they can’t reach them by phone.
Every country in the world considers their Mission to the United Nations the most important and prestigious diplomatic post. The United Nations is where countries show who they are, and where they try to exert influence. Most countries try to avoid the appearance of impropriety, either on the part of their diplomats or in the conduct of the office itself.
But for the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations, located at the Nigerian House at 802 Second Avenue (at 44th St.), and the people who work there, it has become a nightmare of unpaid bills and constant harassment from landlords, credit card companies, phone companies and other utilities.
Nigerian Mission diplomats have not been paid for the past five months, while the locally recruited staff have not been paid for three months. Most of them have exhausted their savings, are borrowing from friends and relatives. It is only the depressed American job market which forces them to continue to endure the humiliation of constant eviction notices.
This is not the first time that the Mission has been starved of funds to carry out its duties, but the problem has been exacerbated because the phone disconnection makes the problem that much more glaring. Even electricity to the giant building was disconnected some time ago. The problem has worsened since the advent of the civilian administration in Nigeria three-and-a-half years ago.
Nigeria is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and one of the largest oil suppliers to America. The country produces about 2.3 million barrels of oil a day.
Nigeria is increasingly known for financial mismanagement. In fact, when the civilian administration took over, Transparency International ranked the country 28 in the index of the most corrupt countries in the world. But in the first two years of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, Nigeria has been named No. 2 in that index, just a notch below Bangladesh; it could take the No. 1 position this year. This is despite the fact that Obasanjo was a member of Transparency International and campaigned on stamping out corruption and restoring integrity to Nigeria.
In fact, just last Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned West African countries against having one currency if Nigeria was to be included. The fund believes that these countries would lose the value of their respective currencies if Nigeria was allowed to become a member because of the high corruption and large number of financial scam practitioners in the country.
This is the scam in which one receives a letter or an email detailing that, due to one reason or another, a huge of amount of money (in most cases from $27 to $30 million) has been unaccounted for and this money is now available to be transferred to your account. By making available one’s letterhead and bank account number to the author, one would then receive $27 million. This scam is estimated to have defrauded foreigners more than $2.2 billion.
The problem at the Permanent Mission is particularly acute because, unlike their other Nigerian offices in the United States, the Mission has no other sources of income. Unlike the embassy and consulates, the mission doesn’t issue visas to foreigners traveling to Nigeria, nor does it issue or renew Nigerian passports, which are income sources.
“It is another crushing blow to the already highly tainted image of Nigeria abroad,” said a Nigerian who didn’t want his name used. “Obasanjo was trotting around the world in the guise of repairing Nigeria’s image until he was benched by the impeachment process against him by the legislators, yet on his flagship Mission to the world government, he can’t even provide the funds to save himself and Nigeria such disgraceful embarrassment.”
“Listen, I happen to know that you are originally from Nigeria, but let me tell you this. A lot of my colleagues are tired of what is going on in Nigeria, the high corruption despite Obasanjo’s promises, the scam which is spilling into other African countries, and now this,” said another African diplomat. “I can even reach the Mission of Equatorial Guinea, for God’s sake!!”
Two weeks ago, the ruling party in Nigeria rewarded Obasanjo with a landslide victory in the primaries; this allows him to retain his party’s nomination as their flag-bearer for the presidential elections in April. Most people assume he will be a shoo-in for another four years as president of Nigeria.
Most people in the West have hardly raised an eyebrow because of the need for “stability” in the region. But the question is whether Obasanjo’s second, or rather, third coming will spell the same fate it has spelled for Nigerians for almost for four years: the death of over 10,000 Nigerians since he assumed office; the murder of hundreds of Nigerians by Nigerian soldiers under Obasanjo’s orders; the razing of villages during which hundreds of unarmed villagers were killed; and the continuing deterioration of Nigeria’s image abroad. Allowing the flagship Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations to go without funds is the highest form of irresponsibility and another disgrace to Africa.
