Nze Chidi DuruPresident Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ban on public funded travels by federal government’s public servants certainly caught many Nigerians unawares. I am sure not even the President’s ardent followers could have imagined that this shot to the arm administrative maneuver by the President was ever in the making in the inner recesses of the Aso Villa seat of power. This, indeed, is a masterstroke.
By whatever consideration this policy is measured, I submit personally that this is one huge, cheery policy announcement that the President should be commended and applauded for.
To my mind, this is a profound expression of administrative seriousness in the ongoing efforts to salvage the country’s economy especially our national currency, the Naira.
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This suspension of public funded trips, in significant ways, addresses both the inherent recklessness of the national bureaucracy and the associated waste and official profligacy linked to it. Much more than that, it has positive implications for the value of the Naira in the foreign exchange market. The value of the Naira had been s major issue of concern for me, so this decision to stop the merry-go-round that official trips had become couldn’t be more auspicious for me.
It is on this count that I plead with His Excellency, Mr President to make this ban a permanent policy feature of the federal government bureaucracy.
The truth is that in proper administrative tasks scheduling only the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Industry, Trade and Investment and to a lesser extent, Finance that are imbued with the mandates to negotiate and sign-off on sovereign agreements with other countries on behalf of a country. This means to say that all we have been doing till now by funding foreign trips for Ministers, DGs and others in the federal government’s administrative hierarchy are needless jamboree.
It is on this note that I plead with Mr President that this policy must not only be sustained on a permanent basis but that it must be enlarged to cover self funded travels. No Minister or government official has any right to use “public time.”
Yes, once you’re in government employment you’re accountable for the ways you use your time, you can’t be gallivanting around the globe because you can pay for it, no, you’re employed to go to work for the Nigerian people and you must be available physically at all times to do that, except, your trip is so important that the President gives it his nod.
I substantially agree with this policy as we wait for more related policies that will help revamp our Naira enroute to enhancing the national economy.
