This article reminds me of the thread about a diplomat's kid who wants to drop out of school.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-842711.96.html

Nigeria Spends N4.8 Billion On School Fees Of Ambassadors' Children -PREMIUM TIMES
Posted: February 2, 2012 - 19:57

By Ini Ekott
Nigeria lawmakers were shocked that the foreign ministry spends far above amounts approved for fees.

The federal government bankrolled the school fees of Nigerian diplomats’ children abroad to the tune of N4.8 billion in 2011, it emerged yesterdaybas government officials scramble to reconcile past spending, and defend fresh proposals.

Up till weekend, ministries and departments and parastatals are to face lawmakers for the  annual budget defence ritual, where frightening details of government’s bogus spending usually meet with lawmakers’ fleeting rebuke.

The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee headed by Nnena Elendu-Ukeje on Thursday expressed shock at the huge bill the foreign affairs ministry spends annually on school fees.

For 2011, the ministry paid N4.8 billion for foreign education of its workers’ wards -an amount that overshot approved allocation for the purpose.

The ministry proposes to spend a relatively lower N5.2 million for the same purpose this year, a figure lawmakers believe will be raised after appropriation.

The amounts foot the fees of children of ambassadors and other diplomatic staff in the nearly 200 missions run by Nigeria across the world.

Lawmakers said ministry officials have been presenting such fees and other expenditures of the ministry in bulk without details, names of beneficiaries, thereby allowing officials a freehand to later adjust the approved figures, and spend same unilaterally.




“You have put votes for security in four different places and that is the issue. You have four different sub-heads showing security votes. That is not acceptable,” Elendu-Ukeje told the minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, at a defense session.

Yet, the legislators have not indicated any plan to block the proposals or to order a discontinuation of the hefty government scholarship.

The ministry’s security votes for 2012 totals a little below N2 billion while it plans to spend N2 billion on transport and travels, another subhead the lawmakers queried.

The minister’s response was simple: “We travel to get the best,” he told the lawmakers”

“You need to get well-trained diplomats. Without training, you will not get good diplomats. Without training, there will be no results. We send some of them to Oxford, some to Italy as they will be competing with the best from the world,” he said.

Nigeria also spent hugely in funding to the United Nations, African Union and the regional body, ECOWAS in 2011.

The house committee branded the lavish levies “ridiculous.”

For 2011, the minister said, Nigeria paid 3.3 billion Naira (16 million US dollars) to the African Union. Contributions to the United Nation was N300 million while N285 million was paid to the Commonwealth.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/3653-nigeria-spends-n4_8billion-on-school-fees-ambassadors_-children.html

If we have 100 ambassadors. It means FG spent 48million on each family.
If an ambassador has 3 children in school (more likely to be undergraduate & postgraduate), It means a total sum of 16million naira was spent on each child's education ( more likely to be schools abroad e.g oxford, cambrigde and also it includes cost of travels)

If a local govt chairman could train 2 children abroad with govt money, then what do we expect from an ambassador who stands to represent Nigeria ?


I dont think this calls for much questioning. Though the question remains, how many ambassadors have children in school?

That one is better than spending 1billion naira for food

i wish, i was the son of a diplomat at this conjuncture, that is why schools in nigeria will never be properly funded, so their children can come get all the professional jobs available in shell and chevron and other oil companies like allison madueke, and now after all these probes what will the law makers do about it on TV they exclaim as if they don't know after the show has finished they say its turn by turn you would do the same when its your turn and that is the problem we are facing a rotten generation of leaders that don't have any direction they want to take this country in LOOK AT THEM ALL FAILURES AND CHEATS BELIEVING THAT THE COUNTRY IS TO COMPLEX AND FOR THAT REASON THEY SHOULD GO AND TAKE THEIR SHARE OF THE UNBAKED NATIONAL CAKE

Acidosis:

If we have 100 ambassadors. It means FG spent 48million on each family.
If an ambassador has 3 children in school (more likely to be undergraduate & postgraduate), It means a total sum of 16million naira was spent on each child's education ( more likely to be schools abroad e.g oxford, cambrigde and also it includes cost of travels)

If a local govt chairman could train 2 children abroad with govt money, then what do we expect from an ambassador who stands to represent Nigeria ?


I dont think this calls for much questioning. Though the question remains, how many ambassadors have children in school?

Then why are the names and numbers not transparent.

I can't believe some of u are supporting this rubbish! Why must the government handle the fees of their children? Don't their parents get paid generous salaries by the state?!!

slyfoxxjoe:

I can't believe some of u are supporting this rubbish! Why must the government handle the fees of their children? Don't their parents get paid generous salaries by the state?!!

just my thought why can't they use their salaries to pay their children school fees like my parents did do they think their blood is more blue then mine its just quite annoying

Acidosis:

If we have 100 ambassadors. It means FG spent 48million on each family.
If an ambassador has 3 children in school (more likely to be undergraduate & postgraduate), It means a total sum of 16million naira was spent on each child's education ( more likely to be schools abroad e.g oxford, cambrigde and also it includes cost of travels)

If a local govt chairman could train 2 children abroad with govt money, then what do we expect from an ambassador who stands to represent Nigeria ?


I dont think this calls for much questioning. Though the question remains, how many ambassadors have children in school?

As a Nigerian trained at one of the most expensive universities in the UK,I can reliably tell you that 16 million naira for educating the child of a diplomat is outrageous.It just goes to show how wasteful people in government are

Huh?

That is the most crazy thing I have ever heard. In Nigeria things have gone so back that the abnormal has become the norm. In other climes, public officials serve the public and ensure the welfare of the masses. In obodo Nigeria, the public serves public officials and pay for their house rent, school fees of their wards in expensive foreign schools, medical expenses for them and their families abroad, and every other perks as demanded by them.

How do we now expect to have a functioning educational system when even a newly elected local government chairman would not send his children to study in a nigerian university? Imagine what the N4.8 billion would do to our universities.

That figure is on the low side, diploma kids goes to most expensive school in any country they are posted, as long as they are under 18yrs of age Nigerian govt pays their fees until they graduate.

This got nothing to do with their parents salary, its their entitlement as diplomatic children serving outside Nigeria.

9ja is a cruck

This is where your subsidy money will be going

the reps re busy showing these on tele as they re gonna do a thing about it; but we all know its business as usual.
thieving reps,

screw them all! The only family I would propose that such amount be spent on their children education are men in Uniform. Those are the guys that deserve not gov crooks robbing Nigerians at every slight opportunity.

The FG spent 4.8b to Educate the children of about 100 Diplomats but spent just 396b to educate the children of about 120million Nigerians in 2011.
ALL MEN ARE EQUAL BUT SOME MEN ARE TRUELY MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

This is really rubbish talk. Then what would they be doing with their salaries and allowances? God Almighty please come to our aid.

The embassies are too many.

We don't have money to take care of too many unnecessary embassies.

While I agree the amount might be too much, we do need to criticize rightly. Someone saying the ambassadors should pay their children's school fees is ridiculous. Nigeria sent them on the mission. They didnt send themselves. But the ministry should look into the expenses and trim it down seriously.

While I agree the amount might be too much, we do need to criticize rightly. Someone saying the ambassadors should pay their children's school fees is ridiculous. Nigeria sent them on the mission. They didnt send themselves. But the ministry should look into the expenses and trim it down seriously.

mumu countryyyyyyy called 9ja, ambassadors my yansh, wetin them dey ambassador for?, what do they do sef, to run around d place doing 5hit!!!, and then there kids enjoy all this, how much is there salarylet this mumu govt tell us, why govt officials go dey enjoy while d masses dey suffer, its just too bad, i hate nigeria, forgive me y'all i said that

Wait a minute, what i my hearing, that amount for school fees?. nigeria is finished. Look Tony Blair fmr uk prime minister once bought a house two bedroom flat outside london for his two sons schooling outside london. He was asked to prove how he got the money while he was a prime minister to buy the flat! the wife baild him out by showing prove how she got the money to asist her husband. So how come a poor nation like nigeria is paying school fees for ambassadors who equaly put all the allocaton given them to run the embassy into their private pockets. So what is left for nigerians with all this coruptions, NOTHING. Devel is in control here. black man no no no no no conscience.How can you steal the money u and ur family can not finish in yr life time. what a pity, Gej are u seeing and hearing this?

Is it only ambassadors that should have their children's school fees paid with tax payers money or the whole foreign service? What of military men putting their life on the line for the country? Should their children fees not be paid by government also? People ate talking as if diplomats are offering free service and are not paid salaries.
I can understand some western nations paying school fees for their diplomat's children, especially if their is a wide cultural and language barrier in the host country and also if there is free education available in their country. But in Nigeria where a clerk has no option than to pay through his nose to educate his wards, Big men are having free education in expensive schools abroad.

I wonder all other countries especially poor countries provide free expensive education for all their ambassador's children.

4.8B for school fees? Are their parents not receiving salaries? GOD WILL PUNISH THEM ALL.

dmainboss:

While I agree the amount might be too much, we do need to criticize rightly. Someone saying the ambassadors should pay their children's school fees is ridiculous. Nigeria sent them on the mission. They didnt send themselves. But the ministry should look into the expenses and trim it down seriously.

Hello!!! i don't understand why the government should be responsible for footing their children's exorbitant school fees, they are obviously not rendering a free service, they get to enjoy too much already, everything is provided for them, housing, transportation and almost practically everything, so what differentiates them from a soldier on peacekeeping mission.

They are just sucking this country dry through every imaginable means.

PHIPEX:

The FG spent 4.8b to Educate the children of about 100 Diplomats but spent just 396b to educate the children of about 120million Nigerians in 2011.
ALL MEN ARE EQUAL BUT SOME MEN ARE TRUELY MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

Thank you very much sir! All these people here are just ranting

God will not punish them

waste of monis we don't have. Imagine if we invested that, and the moni Nigerians spend on education in Ghana on naija schools. 

can't their children school in naija and any child that is above 18yrs should not be the responsibility of government.

1

[size=18pt]Build a posh diplomatic primary and secondary school in Nigeria. The school would be free for diplomat's kid or they pay a token or nominal fee towards the school fees. The school would also be opened to the general public, but the general public would have to pay through their teeth so as to cover Government's cost.  That way the Government would be saving money on sending diplomats kids to posh schools abroad that charge in dollars/Pounds/Euro or Yen.[/size]