I Didn’t Allocate N1bn For Foreign Trip, Money Meant For Nigeria’s House In Geneva – Minister

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, has debunked media reports of a foreign trip to Geneva next year budgeted to cost N1billion, saying that the report credited to Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, was an extreme misrepresentation of the facts.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) reports that the Minister for Industry Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite came under scrutiny on Tuesday when she appeared before the national assembly joint committee on trade and investment to defend her ministry’s 2024 budget proposal.

After presenting the figures in the budget, Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north and a member of the committee, questioned a line item in the budget proposal which provides N1 billion for a single trip to Geneva.

“I see that you intend to travel to Geneva next year and you have budgeted over one billion for that,” Oshiomhole had said.

“We cannot keep going on with over-bloated teams on foreign trips.”, he concluded.

But refuting the claim and subsequent media report, the Minister, in a statement by her Special Assistant, Media and Strategy, Badejo Ademuyiwa, said that Oshiomhole had misrepresentated what the Ministry’s budget entails, saying that there was never a mention of foreign trip to Geneva to the tune of N1 billion mentioned in the entire budget except where maintenance of the Nigerian Trade Office in Geneva was budgeted for.

The statement reads: “We wish to categorically state that there is no line item in the proposed budget of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment referring to any “Foreign Trip to Geneva”.

It noted that “Rather, the only mention of “Geneva” in the proposed budget is with respect to the maintenance of the Nigerian Trade Office in Geneva, captured as “External Trade Sector, Geneva (WTO),” which may have been misconstrued as “Foreign Trip to Geneva.”

In fact, the total amount (for Nigeria’s trade office in Geneva) in the appropriation for 2024 is N1,610,183,599 with the breakdown as follows: Personnel Cost: N805, 379, 820; Overhead: N204, 058, 434 and Capital: N600, 745, 345.

“For clarification, Nigeria, as an active player in global trade maintains an office in Geneva responsible for representing and defending Nigeria’s multilateral trade interests in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), both headquartered in Geneva Switzerland.

“Expectedly, the Nigerian Trade Office, Geneva has obligations, overhead and maintenance costs as with any organisation, that must be met.
“In fact, the current debt owed by the Nigeria Trade Office in Geneva as captured in the budget is N499,000,000.00 and it was deemed necessary to propose a budget that will service Nigeria’s outstanding debts in Geneva and maintain Nigeria’s respect and global standing amongst the comity of nations.

“Please be assured that the Ministry is committed to prudence, transparency and accountability, ” the statement said.