In a move reminiscent of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 directive, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a reduction in travel expenses for all government officials.
This decision, which affects the offices of the President, Vice President, First Lady, Wife of the Vice President, and all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, comes in the wake of criticism over the size of the delegation that accompanied Tinubu to the COP28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai.
Ajuri Ngelale, the special adviser to Tinubu on media and publicity, disclosed this information during a press briefing at the presidential villa in Abuja.
According to him, “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.
“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.”
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He also added that the Office of the First Lady and that of the Wife of the Vice President will now be limited to 10 staff members for official trips within the country, while the Vice President will be allowed 15 staff members. Furthermore, ministers and heads of agencies will be limited to four and two persons respectively for foreign trips.
Ngelale said, “By this directive, every minister will be limited to having not more than four members of staff accompanying 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.”
Recall that this was the same directive taken by former president Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 where he claimed to have reduced the number and duration of foreign trips for ministers and other categories of government officials in a move described as a ‘cost-saving measure’.
However, it remains on record that he spent over N1 billion on both international and local trips, despite the cut in travel costs.