I have always known the position of Minister of foreign affairs of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria to be occupied by Intelligent, outstanding and charismatic people of recognizable pedigree-that is b/f the Yar Adua Govt came in.

This particular position it will seem has been reserved by successive govts for worthy individuals because essentially the occupant is  the nation's chief PRO. Any other person (whether favoured houseboy or p.imp who knows and produces oga's preferred specs) can occupy whatever other cabinet position there is and it wont matter.

Enter 'Chief' Ojo Maduekwe. The appearance of this individual is at once repulsive.Not one you will recommend for any PRO job let alone a nation's. But you are determined to look beyond his dour physical appearance and accomodate him as an educated person and Gods creature-until he opens his mouth to talk. Then, disaster! This is guarrantteed to happen each time.

Ojo Maduekwe spent N2.7b of tax payer's money in 2009 on foreign travels and he is asking for more in 2010. The question is what did he achieve with all that money?

I have to apologise to all because this post ought to have come up in a section for scam, unfortunately there is non on NL.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/12/23/senate-slams-maduekwe-over-n2-7bn-expended-on-travels/

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday vowed to cut down the   N2.7 billion expended by Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, in his international travels this year in 2010 .
The Senate made this pledge despite arguments by Chief Maduekwe for an increase on the amount, as he explained that he needed more money to pursue the cause of international diplomacy.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Jibril Aminu, who presided at the budget defence session, described the N2.7 billion expended by the Minister for his international travels as an economic waste.
Aminu described the amount expended by Maduekwe as more than the entire budget of the Federal Ministry of Commerce which was put at N2 billion.
“The whole budget of the Ministry of Commerce is about N2 billion while that of the Ministry of Police Affairs is about N1billion, but you have used N2.7 billion for international travels alone. And you are even asking for increase in the 2010 budget.
These foreign travels are wasteful, you have to cut it down. There is no way we are going to give you more money for international travels.”
But claiming that the travels were to the benefit of the Ministry and the country, the Minister said:
“Diplomacy is all about visibility even technology has not helped in reducing international travels in diplomacy. There is no way that the travel commitment of the Foreign Ministry could be compared to that of the Ministry of Commerce.”
Maduekwe who was flanked by the Minister of State, Alhaji Jibril Maigari also responded to comments about financial hardships in the country’s foreign missions which it was revealed has led to the inability of the government to pay salaries and allowances of diplomats in the last three months.
Maduekwe on his part blamed the financial squeeze partly on some Ambassadors who he said were in the habit of undertaking frivolous trips for the purpose of cashing estacodes.