Doris Uzoka-Anite, the minister of trade, industry, and investment has refuted report of N1 billion budgeted for a trip to Geneva in 2024, stating that there is no line item in the proposed budget of the ministry referring to such foreign trip.
Uzoka-Anite faced scrutiny while defending the ministry’s budget before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Trade and Investment on Tuesday.
After presenting the figures in the budget, Adams Oshiomhole, a senator representing Edo North and a committee member, questioned a line item in the budget proposal that 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,” Oshiomole said.
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However, Toluwase Moyan, special assistant (Media) to the Minister, in a statement on Wednesday, said that the only mention of Geneva in the proposed budget is concerning the maintenance of the Nigerian Trade Office in Geneva, captured as External Trade Sector, Geneva (WTO).
He noted that the total amount budgeted for the trade office in the appropriation for 2024 is N1,610,183,599, broken down into N805, 379, 820 for personnel cost, N204, 058, 434 for overhead and N600, 745, 345 as capital.
He said, “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 a foreign trip to Geneva,” Moyan said.
“Expectedly, the Nigerian Trade Office, Geneva has obligations, overhead, and maintenance costs as with any organisation, that must be met.”
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He also noted that the current debt owed by the Nigeria Trade Office in Geneva as captured in the budget is N499 million, “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.”
He noted that 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.
