Reps says parlous state of NIIA unacceptable

House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has roundly condemned the current state of utter neglect and dilapidated infrastructures at the apex Nigerian Institute for Foreign Affairs (NIIA), declaring it as unacceptable, regrettable and reprehensible.

Led by the Committee Chairman, Wole Oke, the members, who were on an oversight visit to the institute on Monday, were shocked at what they saw and heard, about what used to be the premier foreign policy academy for Nigeria and Africa, in fact, the African version of the London Chatham House.

The committee members said the place is now an obvious poor shell of its former stature, declaring that for a Think-Tank of that pedigree to sink into such a dire shape, responsibilities and laws must have been broken, and fidelity, to its core mandate, abandoned.

They, therefore, said the place demands and deserves urgent intensive care attention for speedy recovery and rehabilitation.

“We must be deliberate in prioritising the legacy status of this monument as the cornerstone of not just Nigeria, but as Africa’s foreign policies incubator, integrity, and sustainability,” the committee members.

Oke, therefore, promised they will rally all that is necessary and follow up on every constitutional step, to help return life to the institute’s critical infrastructure and depleted human resource capital.

Earlier, while conducting the members round the facilities, the Director General of the institute, Eghosa Osaghae, thanked the oversight visitors for the visit and deeply reflective engagements, saying as the true representatives of the people and protector of institutions, seeing by them is believing.

The committee saw the famous sought after NIIA conference hall, now rejected by clients for dearth of basic amenities, a big archaic press that can serve their catchment community profitably if revamped, a dilapidated and unsafe senior staff quarters, and a huge library of great books with little patrons.

There were, however, rays of hope as donors endowed projects are going on for future commissioning, Osaghae revealed while pleading with the lawmakers to help recover and return its properties in Abuja forcibly appropriated and kept by other agencies of the Federal Government.