Victor EzejaOne of the things that made headlines last week in Nigeria was the announcement of plans to slash the size of the entourage of the President, Vice President, First Lady, and top officials during travels (both abroad and within) by 60 per cent as part of measures to cut costs of governance.
Announced with the intention of showing Nigerians efforts the government is making to cut costs of governance, President Tinubu’ Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, gave details of the official number of persons now permitted by the presidency to be on the entourage of the President, Vice President, First Lady and top MDA officials.
According to Ngelale, Tinubu’s entourage for foreign trips will now be limited to 20 people, down from 50 previously, while that of the Vice President and First Lady abroad is restricted to just five.
For trips within Nigeria, the First Lady is limited to 10, the Vice President to 15, and the President’s delegation to 25 people.
While ministers are allowed to have an official delegation of four, government chief executive officers (CEOs) will have only two staff on any international trip.
Ngelale, who stressed that the measure is to cut down on wasteful spending and reflect the prudence expected of all Nigerians, revealed that it will be monitored by the office of the secretary to the government of the federation to ensure compliance.
“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 and traveling into those states will be massively cut due to the directive of the president,” the presidential spokesman said.
The president, Ngelale added, will be protected by state-based security units, when on a visit to any of the states, which is also a significant cost-cutting measure that will impact both the vice president’s and first lady’s offices.
Expectedly, this drew mixed reactions from Nigerians. While some hailed the action of the president, others averred that it was not enough and drew the attention of the Nigerian leader to other vital measures he needs to take if he wants to decisively deal with the issue of cutting costs of governance.
The new decision, according to analysts, followed the wide criticisms that Tinubu’s government got for the large Nigeria delegation that attended COP 28 in Dubai UAE from 30 November to 12 December 2023. At first, it was reported that the country’s delegation to the UN climate change conference was 1,411. However, after days of outrage all over social media by Nigerians regarding the cost implication on the country, the federal government through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, clarified that Nigeria’s delegation to the Summit was 422 individuals funded by the federal government.
Other decisions of the current government that Nigerians have widely kicked against were the plans to buy a Presidential Yacht said to cost N5 billion, amidst the myriad of socioeconomic challenges the country currently is facing, one of which is the high debt stock currently over N87 trillion according to the Debt Management Office. Nigerians questioned the need for such luxury amidst hardship. Also, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) proposed to spend N15 billion to construct a new residence for the vice president. This is coupled with other billions of naira allocated for the renovation of VP’s residence in FG’s supplementary budget despite the bad state of the nation’s economy. Other humongous budgetary provisions that drew the ire of Nigerians were the proposal to spend N1.5 billion on vehicles for the Office of First Lady, and N160 million SUV car for each of the 469 members of the National Assembly not minding the sufferings of the citizens.
With this barrage of criticisms, the Federal government in a bid to appeal to the minds of the citizens, announced its decision to reduce the size of delegations to foreign and local trips to cut down costs.
However, individuals believe that the government needs to do more.
Clarify Sanctions for Failure Of Implementation – LCCI
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) which lauded the initiative as a step towards curbing excessive travel spending, to instill financial prudence in the management of public funds, called on governments at all levels to implement the decision for it to have a significant effect in reducing cost of governance and save money for capital projects that would have more positive impact on the citizenry.
While the presidential spokesman disclosed that the SGF would monitor compliance and those who fail to implement it “will do so at their own peril,” he however, did not specify the sanctions for non-compliance.
LCCI in its statement signed by the DG, Dr Chinyere Almona, called on the federal government to clarify on that to ensure effective implementation.
“The LCCI is of the view that there might be resistance from some government officials accustomed to larger entourages, and enforcing compliance could face challenges. Therefore, clarification on the sanctions for non-compliance would be essential to ensure effective implementation,” LCCI stated.
While noting that the decision of the government to align spending with the realities faced by Nigerian citizens is a step in the right direction for sustainable economic management, LCCI stressed the need for “a transparent and accountable system of implementing the directives, with continuous engagement to address concerns that may arise during the adjustment period.”
60% Official Entourage Slash, ‘Just Scratching The Surface’ – Obi
The Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, who commended the Federal Government for the decision as an act of reducing the cost of governance, however, said it is “just scratching the surface as it is limited in scope and can only lead to a very negligible saving.”
Obi stated that instead of cutting travel entourage size by 60 per cent, the government should take drastic measures to reduce the frequency of foreign trips and total cost of governance at the federal level by 60 per cent.
He said: “What is desirable should be both a 60 per cent reduction in federal official overseas trips as well as a 60% reduction in the size of delegations. Most importantly, what our current economic reality demands is a 60% reduction in the total cost of governance at the Federal level.”
Obi stressed that if the government is keen on reducing costs of governance, it should revise the recently passed federal budget and cut all wasteful and unnecessary items. “This is the level of cost-cutting and savings that can meaningfully impact the present state of the economy. This level of cut in the cost of government should lead to substantial savings,” Obi added.
He advised that such savings should be used to fund the productive sectors of the economy and social investments, especially in three key areas- education, healthcare, and the lifting of millions of Nigerians out of poverty which the government has been touting for decades with no significant results.
“Most importantly, it is not enough to announce arbitrary cuts in the size of federal official entourages. The nation needs to be informed of how much the measure will save and where such savings will be applied.
“Our problem as a nation has gone beyond token populist gestures and announcements. We must be informed of the real details of the measures being implemented on our behalf. For a government that has made a hobby of indiscriminate borrowing, the only way to salvage the economy is to drastically cut the cost of government by reducing wasteful expenses and spending on inessential luxury items,” the former Anambra State governor stated.
Need to Adopt Oronsaye Report – Uwazurike
Also reacting to the news, former president of Igbo think tank group, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, in a chat with Prime Business Africa, said it is a step in the right direction but it’s not fair for the VP and the First Lady to graded same in terms of the number of officials in their entourage during trips. “The VP and the President are elected but not the First Lady. First Lady has no constitutional role in Nigeria,” Uwazurike contended.
Uwazurike, the current president of Credibility Group, lamented that the Tinubu administration has expanded the size of the government by creating new ministries, agencies and departments, which imposes the burden of high cost on the economy.
The senior lawyer advised that to effectively cut costs of governance, the Federal Government should revisit the Stephen Oronsaye Report for implementation.
The administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had in 2011 set up the Presidential Commission on Restructuring and Rationalisation of the Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies under the leadership of Stephen Oronsaye, a former Head of Service of the federation. The Commission came up with a report that recommended broad reform of the civil service which include abolition and merging of MDAs to cut the big size of the country’s bureaucracy, with its cost implications, especially with the harsh realities of the economy.
Reducing Travel entourage, a mimicry of cutting cost of governance – Igboke
A Public Affairs Analyst, Dr Ambrose Igboke, said reducing the size of entourage during trips and cutting down traveling allowances due to Government officials “is an insignificant effort and a mimicry of cutting cost.”
“The real cutting of costs is pruning down the number of ministries and ministers, selling off the Presidential Yacht, reducing the number of planes in the Presidential fleet, stop importation of refined petroleum products by making all refineries work and the bringing back oil subsidy so that Nigerians can cut cost of buying food, medicine, health and access to education,” Igboke, President, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts, Enugu State chapter, told Prime Business Africa correspondent in a chat.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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