Nyesom Wike
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to prevent Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, from going ahead with plans to close 34 foreign embassies in Abuja over unpaid ground rents.
In a statement released via its official X (formerly Twitter) account, SERAP warned that the proposed action would violate international diplomatic protocols, especially Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
This article provides for the inviolability of diplomatic premises and explicitly forbids their seizure or closure by host countries.
“President Tinubu should urgently caution and direct the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to immediately withdraw the threat to close down 34 embassies in Abuja.”
“The purported threat is contrary to the provisions of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention,” SERAP stated.
According to the FCT Administration, foreign missions collectively owe more than ₦3.6 billion in ground rents, some of which date back to 2014.
Minister Wike had previously threatened to revoke 4,794 land titles and take enforcement action against embassies and other defaulting property owners.
To address the situation, President Tinubu intervened on May 26 by issuing a 14-day grace period for embassies and institutions to settle their debts.
That period expired on Monday, June 9, raising fears that enforcement could begin immediately.
The Vienna Convention, which Nigeria is a signatory to, states that “the premises of the mission shall be inviolable,” as specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 22.
Furthermore, Paragraph 3 stipulates that embassy properties, vehicles, and other assets are immune from seizure or enforcement procedures by host nations.
While some institutions, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), have reportedly cleared their debts, several embassies have challenged the FCT’s claims.
The Russian Embassy, for instance, denied owing rent and asserted it had full documentation of its payments.
Similarly, representatives from the Turkish and German embassies stated they were unaware of any official notification and suggested their inclusion on the defaulters list could be a bureaucratic mistake.
Other embassies named by the FCT Administration include those of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Thailand, the Philippines, Congo, Venezuela, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Zambia, Iraq, the Netherlands, Ireland, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, and Guinea.
Chijioke Nwankwoeze, Director of Land at the FCT Administration, noted that penalty fees ranging from ₦2 million to ₦3 million, depending on the location, have also been applied to the debts.
