Pakistani government petitioned over activities of its embassy in Nigeria

The Pakistani Government has been petitioned over an alleged failure of its High Commission to foster economic relationship with Nigeria.

The Director, Peel Aston Global, Khomeinizadeh Bukhari, in his petition to the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Qureshi, dated October 26, 2021, alleged that the mission was obstructing investments in Nigeria and asked Islamabad to audit the activities of the High Commission in Nigeria.

The British-Pakistani citizen said he had reached out to the High Commissioner, Maj-Gen. Muhammad Tayab Azam (rtd), to assist in promoting Pakistan but without success.

The petition reads in part: “I am highly disappointed in the nonchalant way the Pakistan High Commission and its administration are performing. They are not interested in building true friendships with Nigeria. Instead, they are on the ground for purely selfish interests.”

This is even as the Ministry of Interior said it will, henceforth, stop issuance of visas to foreign workers whose skills are readily available in Nigeria.

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu, made the disclosure at the inauguration of the Technical Consultative Committee of the Strategy Implementation Task Office For Presidential Executive Order No 5, yesterday, in Abuja.

Onu said the policy was to place Nigerian professionals, as well as manufacturers at the centre of the economy. He said: “The Federal Government will, henceforth, place premium on the use of indigenous professionals and firms in the design and execution of projects involving national security. Foreign experts would only be engaged on condition that such expertise is not available in Nigeria, and when engaged, local professionals would be attached to understudy them.”

Also, the Federal Government has concluded plans to review Nigeria’s map, produced by the Canadian Government in 1970, saying the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation has been updating it to meet current realities.

The exercise would also enable the country to have a new map to successfully deal with various negative challenges working against the genuine commitment and efforts of the government towards achieving a more effective security network.

Acting Surveyor General of the Federation (SGoF), Abduganiyu AAdebomehin, made the disclosure while defending the 2020 budget appropriation before the House of Representatives Committee on Works and Housing in Abuja.

(The Guardian)