Workers in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs have alleged fraud in the funding of the postings of the ambassadors who were recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari

Buhari had appointed 95 career and non-career ambassadors after getting the approval of the National Assembly.

In a communiqué dated May 7, 2021 and issued under the aegis of the Joint Negotiating Council, the workers alleged that the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Gabriel Aduda, had written a letter to Buhari, requesting N8.1billion to fund the posting of the ambassadors.

The workers accused the ministry of not accounting for the money it received in the last three years when no ambassadorial posting was made.

They gave the ministry seven days to address the resolutions contained in their communiqué.

The resolutions, which were titled, ‘communiqué issued by the Joint Negotiating Council sequel to the congress held at the rotunda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja,’ were signed by the JNC Chairman, Mr. Ali Saidu and the Secretary-General, Mr. Charles Chimaroke.

Following this development, the ministry officials would on Tuesday meet the workers to avert any strike that could paralyse the country’s foreign missions.

The workers in their communiqué, alleged that N4.7 billion out of the N5.2 billion released to the ministry for staff postings in the last three years had not been accounted for.

The workers’ Joint Negotiating Council argued that the ministry had not carried out postings of staff in the past three years despite receiving N5.2billion from the Ministry of Finance. (THISDAY)

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