President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved “cost-cutting” measures that involved slashing, by 60 percent, official entourage on local and international travels. The policy announcement has been generally well received by Nigerians though opinions differ on the will to follow them through and the possible impacts they could make in boosting the efficiency of the 2024
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday approved “cost-cutting” measures that involved slashing, by 60 percent, official entourage on local and international travels. The policy announcement has been generally well received by Nigerians though opinions differ on the will to follow them through and the possible impacts they could make in boosting the efficiency of the 2024 budget.
The President appeared determined to sustain the popularity momentum, in a matter of days, he had suspended a Minister on the allegation of graft and while the dust raised by that action was yet to settle down, he reacted to public criticism of the unusually over bloated Nigerian delegations at international engagements.
Coming on the heels of a backlash aftermath of COP28 when it was alleged that Nigeria participated at the global event in Dubai, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with 1,114 delegates, though government’s figure was far less, the President’s action is salutary. Although the Presidency said government sponsored only 422 delegates, reports claimed government may have spent N2.78bn on airfares and estacodes.
In their first seven months in office, both President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his vice, Senator Kashim Shettima visited 16 countries, collectively spending 91 days in foreign engagements. Therefore, ” the cost-cutting” measures as announced by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri 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.
Specifically, he said: “President Bola Tinubu has approved that anywhere he travels within Nigeria, he will no longer accept or allow huge security delegations to be following him from Abuja, which attract massive bills with respect to estacode and duty allowances from now on.
“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.”
In the 2024 budget, approved by the National Assembly, the Presidency is going to spend N15.9b on foreign trips. This implies that the country is going to save N9.54b should the policy be implemented to the letter.
On domestic trips, Chief 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. 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.”
He also said with regards to security arrangements on domestic trips, 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.
Again, this may be a direct reaction to the President’s Christmas visit to Lagos state in which long convoy was seen throughout the visit, a situation which made ordinary Nigerians to yell on the President lamenting that they are hungry.
Of course, the cost of fueling the usually long convoy is better imagined than having to sign the cheques. In addition, the travelling allowances of both the drivers and security details on such trips are enormous, running into several millions.
The President’s spokesperson explained further that President 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.”
But this is not the first-time government had tried to trim her team at foreign engagements. In 16 October 2019 President Muhammadu Buhari approved a directive for ministers, Director-generals and other top government officials to submit travel plans for clearance.
Mr. Willie Bassey, director of information to Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), announced that henceforth: “travel days will no longer attract payment of Estacode Allowances as duration of official trips shall be limited to only the number of days of the event as contained in the supporting documents to qualify for public funding”.
Some of the directives in the statement are: Without approval from the president, ministers, permanent secretaries, chief executive officers and directors in the ministry are restricted to not more than two (2) foreign travels in a quarter.
When a minister is head of a delegation, the size of such delegation should not exceed four. All public funded travels (local and foreign) must be strictly for official purposes backed with documentary evidence. Although the statement said the development was to curb leakages and ensure efficiency in the management of resources, the objective was not achieved.
On paper, President Tinubu’s policy directive seems good but would it be implemented to the letter? The President has shown that he listens to public opinion and genuine criticism in the last seven months. Would this have effect on the budget? Yes, if the guidelines are religiously followed.
Leave a Comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *