President Bola Tinubu has been urged by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project Nigeria to step in and stop what it calls a “purported threat” by Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to close 34 foreign embassies in Abuja due to unpaid ground rentals.
SERAP cautioned that such a move would be against diplomatic norms and international law in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Monday.
The organization called on President Tinubu to immediately warn and order Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, to revoke the threat of closing 34 embassies in Abuja. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations’ Article 22, which forbids search, requisition, attachment, or execution of diplomatic missions and ensures their inviolability, was cited by SERAP.
According to Vienna Convention Article 22, paragraph 1, “the premises of the mission shall be inviolable.”
“the premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment, or execution,” according to Article 22, paragraph 3, the post stated. The Federal Capital Territory Administration’s recent disclosure that at least 34 embassies in Abuja overdue ground rents going back to 2014 is what sparked the issue.
According to a report by PUNCH Online, the missions owe more than N3.66 million in total.
The following embassies are listed as defaulters: Egypt, Chad, India, Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Indonesia, the European Union, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Thailand, Côte d’Ivoire, Russia, Philippines, Netherlands, Turkey, Guinea, Ireland, Uganda, Iraq, Zambia, Tanzania, Germany, DR Congo, Venezuela, Korea, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Zambia High Commission (N1,189,990), Indonesia’s Defense Attaché (N1,718,211), and China’s Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office (N12,000) are among the organizations with debts ranging from N150 to N1 million. In a directive dated May 26, FCT Minister Wike mandated enforcement action against 4,794 properties that had unpaid rents ranging from 10 to 43 years.
Embassies that have similarly defaulted were to be included. But Tinubu stepped in after public outrage and diplomatic consideration, extending a 14-day grace period that ends on Monday (today).
Depending on the location of their properties, embassies and other defaulters will have to pay penalty costs of N2 million or N3 million, according to FCTA’s Director of Land, Chijioke Nwankwoeze.
Although SERAP recognized the value of tax collection, it emphasized that such actions must not go against international accords or diplomatic customs.
