Trade Ministry Denies Appropriating N1bn for Geneva Trip 

The ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment has dismissed media reports of budgeting N1 billion for foreign trip to Geneva next year.

Correcting the alleged misrepresentation of facts, the special assistant (Media) to the minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Toluwase Moyan, stated 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.’

Providing more clarification,  Moyan 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 “Foreign Trip to Geneva.”

According to Moyan, the total amount for Nigeria’s trade office in Geneva in the appropriation for 2024 is N1,610,183,599.

Breaking the figure further, the media aide said, N805, 379, 820 would cover personnel cost, while overhead is  N204, 058, 434 and capital expenditures takes 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,”  explained Moyan.