In Move to Reduce Cost of Governance, Tinubu Slashes Govt Officials’ Entourage for Local, International Trips by 60%

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

In a move to cut cost of governance at the federal level, President Bola Tinubu has directed that all official entourage to state and international events be drastically slashed by 60 per cent.

He has also directed that for every local trip of government, security details would henceforth be drafted from the host state.

Presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, who made this known yesterday, while briefing newsmen at the State House, Abuja, explained that by the new directive, the President would now travel with only 20 officials unlike before when the number was over 50 people; the Vice President would now travel with five officials, the First Lady and the wife of the Vice President are now also allowed to have five accompanying officials respectively.

For local trips, the number of the entourage of the President has been reduced to 25, the Vice President 15, the First Lady and the wife of the Vice President 10 each.

The media adviser said the essence of the reduction was to bring total sanity and prudence in the management of resources.

His words: “President Tinubu has, by his most recent directive approved a massive cost cutting exercise that will touch 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.

“One, the official trips that will be undertaken within the country that is when Mr. President or the Vice President travels to any state within the country, the massive bills that accrued due to allowances and estacode for security detail coming from Abuja going and traveling into those states, will be massively cut due to the directive of the President, that 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.”

According to him, henceforth, ministers’ delegation for foreign trips would be a maximum of four officials, while the heads of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would travel with the maximum of two officials.

He said: “Additionally, when any international travel is being approved, the following limits have been placed on all ministers of the Federation. Four members of their staff, appointees and the like will be allowed to travel with a minister on official trip.

“For heads of agency that will be limited to two members of staff allowed to travel on an official trip. Furthermore, the numbers that the President has now approved for official travel with him that will apply to his principal staff are as follows:

“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 terms of local trips, the President has approved a new limit of 25 members of staff to accompany him on domestic trips within the country.

“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, the same as the first lady.”

It was gathered that a circular outlining the new directive has been sent out to the various ministries, departments and agencies from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

Speaking further, Ajuri said: “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.”

He warned that any official that flouts the directive would be doing that at his or her own peril.

According to him, “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.”