The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, made the disclosure in a memo to President Umaru Yar’Adua.

In the five-page memo obtained by The Nation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maduekwe also observed that Nigeria had been defaulting in meeting its financial obligations to international organisations.

The memo reads: "I wish to bring to the attention of Your Excellency the matter of Nigeria’s outstanding financial contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBO), based in Vienna, Austria, which amount to US$230,000 for the former and US$272,000 and 20,833Euros for the latter and to humbly request Mr. President to authorise immediate payment of the contributions.

"As regards the IAEA, it has just come to my knowledge that over the years, Nigeria has not been meeting its financial obligations to the agency. Failure to pay this amount (US$230,000) has led to the loss of our voting right in the organisation. However, our voting right can be restored if we pay the minimum sum of 9,348 Euros.

"In addition to the embarrassing loss of voting rights in the Board of Governors and the General Assembly of the IAEA, Nigeria stands to lose its other benefits, most especially funding of the agency’s technical cooperation programmes.

"The CTBO is currently concluding arrangements to activate a sub-regional and national data base centre in Nigeria, to be housed at the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission.

"The proposed facility will provide real-time monitoring data for the CTBO. More importantly, it will greatly enhance our country’s early warning capacity against natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. This vital project may not be located in Nigeria if we fail to meet our statutory obligations to the agency."

"Nigeria can also derive significant assistance from the IAEA in the areas of technical cooperation in the fields of nuclear power development, health care services, water resource management, food processing, agriculture, industry and control of diseases such as malaria through the Sterile Insect Technology among other things."

The Minister said though Nigeria had earned goodwill and respect in the international community, its indebtedness to some organisations is embarrassing.

He added: "Despite these benefits, Nigeria had, quite often, defaulted in meeting its statutory financial obligations to international organisations and agencies, with the attendant embarrassment to the country."

Maduekwe demanded "immediate payment of Nigeria’s outstanding contributions to the IAEA and the CBTBO by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation."