Why we don’t have consulate in Kano -US ambassador

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Terence McCulley, said on Friday that insecurity and budgetary constraints posed challenges to the opening of a United States Consulate in Kano. McCulley said in Abuja that the U.S. government was not certain when the consulate in Kano would be opened, but said that plans to that effect were on.

“We have not abandoned plans to open a consulate in Kano, but recently, we have had plans to re-evaluate that for a variety of reasons the two most important reasons are; one, insecurity in the North and the second is budgetary constraints.

“While we have a plan, I would say that it is going to be a couple of years down the road before we can get serious about it again. we had hoped to identify the site and move forward on staffing up Kano by the summer of 2013. obviously that hasn’t come about.

“We recognise Kano’s as the second largest city in Nigeria.the north is a critical place; we need to be there and as soon as conditions of both security and budgetary permit, we will move forward.

“The budget situation for this fiscal year is pretty grim and the budget situation for next fiscal year beginning October 1 is also pretty grim. So, as policy matter, we are committed to opening in Kano, but we are going to be constrained,” he said.