In keeping with his assurances of cutting the bulky cost of governance in Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has slashed the number of people accompanying him on local and foreign trips by 60 per cent.
The new development announced by presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngalale on Tuesday also affects his Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, ministers and heads of ministries, departments and agencies.
Going forward, only 20 people will accompany the President on foreign trips while the VP and First Lady will be accompanied by five persons each. On local trips, the President will have a 25-man escort; 15 for VP and 10 for First Lady.
Also, for domestic trips, the President’s, VP’s and First Lady’s security details will be taken care of by the host state government.
Ngalale continued, “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 an official trip. For heads of agency that will be limited to two members of staff allowed to travel on an official trip.”
The move, Ngalale explained, is the President’s way of bringing “total sanity and prudence to the management of the Commonwealth of our people.”
“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 added.
The President’s spokesman warned that dire penalties await anyone who flouts the directive.
In his words, “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.”
Pilot News gathered that a memo on 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.
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