Nigeria is currently in default of her yearly dues to the United Nations for the year 2019, while countries like war-torn Syria and cash-stripped Zimbabwe have fully paid.
Nigerians currently occupy high positions in the 193-member global body, with Tijjani Bande as the current president of the UN General Assembly and Mrs. Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
Every member country including Nigeria is supposed to pay their yearly dues not later than end of January of each year.
No payment has been received from Nigeria as at 7 October.
The country is embroiled in a fiscal crisis as Buhari’s government tries to manage Nigeria’s ballooning public expenditure profile and a tightening revenue base.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres says the inability of some member nations to pay could cause the global body to “default on payments to staff and vendors” and “risk disrupting operations globally.”
The United Nations has one of its major humanitarian operations in northeastern Nigeria ravaged by years of Islamic insurgency where it cares for millions of displaced civilians.
Yet in September, President Buhari led a multitude of delegates to this year’s 74th UN General Assembly sessions, with at least three governors and half a dozen ministers, all racking up thousands of dollars in estacodes (travel allowances).
In May Nigeria announced the closure of three missions in Sri Lanka, Czech Republic and the Republic of Serbia due to insufficient funds.
However Nigeria is not alone in the payment default.
Of the 193 member countries, only 129 have fully paid. One such nation in default it the United States which has only paid a fraction of its whooping 22% of the UN’s $2.5bn annual budget allocated to her for 2019.
In 2018, Nigeria paid $5.08 million dues to the world body.
Leave a Reply