The federal government has commenced a process to reduce the number of international organisations Nigeria belongs.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, gave the hint on Tuesday in Abuja.

The senior offical spoke while defending the ministry’s 2021 budget at the House of Representatives.

Onyeama disclosed that the ministry faces the challenge of meeting its contribution to those organisations.

“We are owing a lot, and in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), there is a process to rationalise and cut down on the international organisations we belong to. This is because we are just owing monies left and right and it is not even good for the image of the country,” he said.

Decrying the poor funding of the ministry, he said the movement of officers, ambassadors and their families was a major problem.

He said currently that N1.6billion is required for the movement of ambassadors, while officers will require N3.7billion.

Onyeama told the lawmakers that the inadequate overhead budgetary provisions to Nigerian missions must be addressed.