No Nigerian In Cuban Prison—Ambassador

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cuba, Ms Laraba Elsie-Bhutto, has said that there is no Nigerian in a Cuban prison.
The ambassador made the fact known when the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, led by Rep. Nnenna Ukeje (PDP-Abia) visited his office in Cuba.
Elsie-Bhutto told the legislators that Cuba’s environment was not conducive for jobs or business, hence the mission had a record of only 44 Nigerians living in Cuba.
She said 41 out of the 44 Nigerians in Cuba were students on scholarship under the Bilateral Education Agreement between Nigeria and Cuba, while the remaining three were local staff in the mission’s employ.
The ambassador said Cuba being a communist country, had no jobs for Nigerians and only granted a maximum of one month visa to any visitor.
She, however, said the embassy had been compelled to assist some stranded Nigerians to return home by buying their air tickets so as not to constitute nuisance in the country.
``Since 2011 that I resumed here, the mission has been forced to pay over 5,000 dollars in aid of Nigerians, who were stranded and don’t want them to suffer though we don’t have a vote for that,’’ she said.
Elsie-Bhutto said the mission had the problem of underfunding and the use of a dilapidated 70-year old structure as chancery as well as inadequate security of both the chancery and residence of the staff.
She named other challenges of the mission as students’ unrests arising from the late receipt of supplementation allowances, poor and expensive communication, the lack of adequate number of vehicles as well as the lack of direct air link between Cuba and other countries of accreditation.
``Overall, relations with the host country and other countries (The Bahamas, Nicaragua) of accreditation are warm, cordial and fraternal. There is an ample opportunity to deepen current relations, particularly in the spirit of South-South Cooperation,’’ Elsie Bhutto said.
On her part, Ukeje said the committee was in Cuba on oversight function for proper assessment ahead of the 2014 appropriation and to take inventory of the Nigeria property in Cuba.
She commended the envoy for her proactive role, especially in using the dilapidated chancery building.
Ukeje said it was regrettable that after 40 years of Nigeria-Cuba relations, no oversight function had been carried out on the mission.
She said the committee would be willing to assist the mission in all her needs.
Ukeje commended the mission for showing responsibility to Nigeria citizens in need and promised to assist to fast track the release of students allocations for the current year.
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