*VP, First Lady, Ministers affected too
By Chesa Chesa
President Bola Tinubu has ordered a pruning of delegations accompanying him on local and foreign official trips as part of measures to cut costs in governance.
The order also affects official trips of the First Lady, the Vice-President and his wife, Ministers, as well as heads of federal government agencies.
Announcing these measures to State House correspondents on Tuesday, presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said they are meant to bring about “total sanity and prudence” in government business spendings.
He explained that the President would henceforth travel abroad with no more than 20 officials while the Vice-President travels with five officials on international trips.
On local trips, President’s delegation is now limited to 25 while the Vice-President will be entitled to 15 officials.
The First Lady and wife of the Vice-President will be accompanied by five officials on foreign trips and 10 for local trips.
For Ministers, two officials are allowed on foreign trips while two are allowed to travel abroad with heads of government agencies, Ngelale disclosed.
He also explained that “the massive bills that accrue due to allowances and estacode for security details coming from Abuja going and traveling into those states, will be massively cut due to the directive of the President.
“The security outfits within States, whether it be police DSS, or branches of the military, will frontline his protective detail when he travels to those states – a major cost cutting initiative that will affect the Office of the Vice President as well as the office of the First Lady.”
He added that “it is pertinent to note that there is a difference between the number of members of staff allowed to travel with the presiding officials to international trips and those that are allowed for domestic.
“You will find that the numbers on international trips are less than those allowed on domestic trips. This is because international trips are far more expensive across the board and the President is determined to bring total sanity and prudence to the management of the commonwealth of our people.
“As a result of this, the President has directed that every federal MDA also including the office of the president itself and the Office of the Vice President as well as the offices of the first and Second Ladies, are affected and bound by this directive of the President.
“Henceforth, the President is insistent that the notion of government wastage, the notion of recurrent expenditure being in excess, the notion that government officials will be allowed to conduct their affairs in a way that is different from what we are asking of Nigerian citizens with respect to prudence and cost management, those days are over.
“The President is insistent that the prudence of government officials must reflect the prudence and efficiency of the Nigerian citizens and this is the directive of the President.
“With respect to the adherence to this most recent directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I believe we do not need to convince the officers of the federal government of Nigeria of the seriousness of the President with respect to how he will implement his directives.
“If there is anybody who feels that the directive of the President is not binding on them, who feels that the President will not uphold this directive in implementation and seeks to test it, they will do so at their own peril.”
It was further learnt that the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation has already issued a circular to affected offices for immediate implementation, while embassies and missions in Nigeria may be notified accordingly if need be.
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