Tinubu Slashes Expenditure on Domestic, Foreign Travels By 60 Percent

President Bola Tinubu has significantly reduced spending on both domestic and international official travel by 60%.

During foreign trips, the President will be accompanied by 20 individuals, while the Vice President and the First Lady will have accompanying teams of five each.

During local trips, the President will be accompanied by 25 individuals, the Vice President by 15, and the First Lady by 10

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, briefed State House Correspondents on President Tinubu’s recent directive, which sanctioned a significant cost-cutting exercise across the entire Nigerian federal government, including the President’s office, the Vice President’s office, and the First Lady’s office.

According to the presidential media aide, official trips within the country involving either the President or Vice President will see notable cost reductions. This stems from the President’s order to cut down on substantial expenses linked to allowances and estacode for security details traveling from Abuja to different states.

He stated that the security units within states—whether police, DSS, or military branches—will take charge of his protective detail during visits to those states

This significant cost-cutting measure will also impact the Vice President’s Office and the Office of the First Lady.

Ngelale also mentioned that for any approved international travel, certain restrictions apply to all Federation ministers: specifically, four members of their staff, appointees, and similar personnel are permitted to accompany them on official trips.

“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.

He clarified that, regarding local trips, the President has endorsed a fresh restriction allowing 25 staff members to accompany him during travels within the country.

He confirmed that the Office of the First Lady is now restricted to 10 staff members for official trips within the country. Similarly, during official trips within the country, the Vice President will be limited to 15 staff members, while his wife will also have a cap of 10 staff members, aligning with the First Lady’s allocation.

“His words, “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 concerning 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 Nigerian citizens and this is the directive of the President. Thank you very much.”

Asked if this new directive on restrictions will come in the form of an executive order, Ajuri simply replied, “Concerning the adherence to this most recent directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I believe we do not need to convince the officers of the federal government of Nigeria of the seriousness of the president concerning how he will implement his directives.

“If there is anybody who feels that the directive of the President is not binding on them and who feels that the President will not uphold this directive in implementation and seeks to test it, they will do so at their peril.”

Kanyi Daily recalls that Bola Tinubu had suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, from office with immediate effect