President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved “cost-cutting” measures that involve slashing, by 60%, official entourage on local and international travels.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed this while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
Ngelale said the directive applied to the Offices of the President, Vice President, First Lady, Wife of the Vice President and all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
He said, “President Bola Tinubu has approved that anywhere he travels within this country he will no longer accept or allow huge security delegations to be following him from Abuja, which attracts massive bills with respect to estacode and duty allowances from now on.
“He has approved a massive cost-cutting exercise that will cut across the entire Federal Government of Nigeria and the Offices of the President himself, the Vice President and the Office of the First Lady. It will be conducted in the following fashion.
“On international trips, the President has directed that no more than 20 individuals be allowed to travel with him. That number will be cut down to five in the case of the First Lady. Additionally, the number in the entourage on official international trips for the Vice President will be cut to five. The number that will be placed as a limit on the wife of the Vice President is also five.”
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This decision came five weeks after Nigerians criticised the Tinubu administration for participating in the United Nation’s annual climate summit, COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with 1,114 delegates.
Although the Presidency said it sponsored only 422 delegates, reports say it spent N2.78bn on airfares and estacodes.
In their first seven months in office, Tinubu and Shettima visited 16 countries, collectively spending 91 days in foreign engagements, The PUNCH observed.
Checks revealed that Tinubu has so far visited Paris, France (twice); London, the United Kingdom; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Berlin, German, spending 55 days.
Meanwhile, VP Shettima represented him in Italy, Russia, South Africa, Cuba, China and the US, logging 36 days abroad in 2023.
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While the Presidency defended these trips as vital for attracting foreign direct investment into Nigeria, critics question the economic impact, particularly the size of the entourage.
But the President’s spokesperson told journalists that Tinubu is “determined to bring total sanity and prudence to the management of the commonwealth of our people.
“Henceforth, the President is insistent that the notion of government wastage and 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 of the Nigerian citizens.”
Revealing more details about the directive, Ngelale said, “The President has approved a new limit of 25 staff members to accompany him on domestic trips.
“The Office of the First Lady is now limited to 10 staff members to accompany her on official trips within the country.
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“The Vice President will be limited to 15 members of staff on official trips within the country, while his wife will be limited to 10 members of staff on officials within the country.”
On the issue of the President travelling with an army of security personnel across states, Ngelale said henceforth, “the security outfits within states, be it police, the DSS or branches of the military, will frontline his protective detail when he travels to those states.” This also applies to the Office of the VP, the First Lady, and the VP’s wife.
He explained that the number of persons allowed to accompany each officer on international trips is less than those allowed on domestic trips because “international trips are far more expensive across the board.”
For the MDAs, Ngelale said ministers are now limited to four persons for foreign trips, while agency heads can only travel with two persons.
“By this directive, every minister will be limited to having not more than four staff members going with them to any event anywhere in the world. In the case of CEOs of agencies, they will be limited to two staff going with them to anywhere in the world,” he explained.
Asked what sanctions await those who defy this directive, the presidential aide replied, “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 peril.”
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