foreign trips more than twice in a quarter. The Information and Culture,
Lai Mohammed, who disclosed the directive, said government officials
below the rank of ministers are henceforth entitled to fewer aides.
“Besides, no minister on a trip outside the shores of the land should
go with more than four aides, who should be relevant to the trip,” the
minister said. The Information, Culture and Tourism Minister, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, also explained that cabinet ministers can only travel out
of the country eight times in a year. Speaking on the Presidential
order, Lai Mohammed hinted that President Muhammadu Buhari in a
directive issued has directed that no minister should go on foreign
trips more than twice in a quarter. Similarly, he said estacode for
government officials would no longer be calculated on an hourly basis.
Right from the onset, it is imperative to underscore the fact that the
Nigeria economy is not very strong. The present administration led by
President Muhammadu Buhari inherited an ebbing and wobbling economy from
the PDP, after years of glaring economic mismanagement. The new
government has worked relentlessly and assiduously to pull the country
out of recession as well as prudently manage the unpredictable economy.
This administration is not pretending that it has the magic wand to wave
away all the enormous economic challenges overnight and pronto, make
Nigeria an al dorado; of the process of revamping the economy would be
tedious and take some doings, and this is exactly what the government is
doing.
Therefore, Sequel to the presentation of the 2020 Appropriation Bill to
the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the
immediate suspension of international travels by all Cabinet Members and
Heads of Government Agencies as to enable ministers personally lead the
process of budget defence at the National Assembly. This is according to
a communique by Willie Bassey, director of information, office of
Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Mr Bassey notes that the
suspension of such travels will enable Functionaries and Agencies of the
Executive Arm to provide the required cooperation with the Legislature
in order to ensure timely passage of the Appropriation Bill.
“Honourable Ministers who have already secured approval to travel are
by this directive, required to revalidate such approvals with Mr.
President after confirming the Schedule of Appearances with the relevant
committees of the National Assembly. “Furthermore, all Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been directed to liaise with the
relevant committees of the National Assembly for their Schedules of
Budget defence,” the statement read.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari has slashed estacodes and the number
and duration of foreign trips for ministers and other public officials.
This is as the President approved additional cost-saving measures aimed
at curtailing financial indiscipline in official travels of Ministers,
Permanent Secretaries and other top officials of Ministries, Departments
and Agencies (MDAs.)
A statement issued by the Office of Secretary to the Government of the
Federation yesterday signed by the Director of Information, Willie
Bassey, said henceforth all foreign travels must be for highly essential
statutory engagements that are beneficial to the interest of the
country. “Except with the express approval of Mr. President,
Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Chairmen of Extra-Ministerial
Departments, Chief Executive Officers and Directors are restricted to
not more than two (2) foreign travels in a quarter,” the statement
said.
According to the statement, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs) are henceforth to submit their Yearly Travel Plans for statutory
meetings and engagements to the Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation and/or the Office of the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation for express clearance within the first quarter
of the fiscal year, before implementation.
It also said MDAs are also to make their presentation using the existing
template and also secure approvals on specific travels as contained in
the plan, from the appropriate quarters. It said all public-funded
travels must be strictly for official purposes backed with documentary
evidence.
The statement added that “When a Minister is at the head of an
official delegation, the size of such delegation shall not exceed four
including the relevant Director, Schedule Officer and one Aide of the
Minister.”Every other delegation below ministerial level shall be
restricted to a maximum of three.” For Class of Air Travels, President
Buhari approved that Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers,
Senior Special Assistants to the President, Chairmen of
Extra-Ministerial Departments and Chief Executive Officers of
Parastatals who are entitled would continue to fly Business Class while
other categories of Public Officers are to travel on Economy Class.
Also, travel days will no longer attract payment of Estacode Allowances
as duration of official trips shall be limited to only the number of
days of the event as contained in the supporting documents to qualify
for public funding, the statement added. It said the Auditor-General of
the Federation has been directed to treat all expenditures that
contravene these guidelines as ineligible.
The statement reads, “In a bid to curb leakages and ensure efficiency
in the management of resources of government, President Muhammadu Buhari
has approved for immediate implementation, additional cost-saving
measures aimed at instilling financial discipline and prudence,
particularly, in the area of official travels. “Henceforth, all
Ministries, Departments and Agencies are required to submit their yearly
travel plans for statutory meetings and engagements to the Office of the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation and/or the Office of the
Head of Civil Service of the Federation for express clearance within the
first quarter of the fiscal year, before implementation. “Also, when a
minister is at the head of an official delegation, the size of such
delegation shall not exceed four, including the relevant director,
schedule officer and one aide of the minister. “Every other delegation
below ministerial level shall be restricted to a maximum of three.
“For class of air travels, the President has approved that ministers,
permanent secretaries, special advisers, senior special assistants to
the President, chairmen of extra-ministerial departments and chief
executive officers of parastatals who are entitled, to continue to fly
business class while other categories of public officers are to travel
on economy class. “Travel days will no longer attract payment of
estacode allowances as duration of official trips shall be limited to
only the number of days of the event as contained in the supporting
documents to qualify for public funding.”
It would be recalled that the federal government has directed all its
directors-general, managing directors and executive secretaries to start
flying economy class on all local and international flights. A previous
directive issued in April 2016 banned ministers and other federal
government officials from flying first class. The latest circular, dated
November 2, 2016, reads thus: “In view of the ensuing budgetary and
fiscal challenges faced by the federal government arising from low oil
revenue, it has become necessary to review the Guidelines for Local and
International Travels as provided for in Circular Ref. No. SGF.
6/S.2/X/545 of 31st March, 2016, with a view to further prune recurrent
expenses on travels and tours.
“Accordingly, government has decided that all civil and public
servants in the rank of Directors and below in federal ministries,
departments and agencies as well as Chief Executive Officers (Managing
Directors, Executive Secretaries, Directors-General, etc) of federal
government parastatals, agencies and institutions are henceforth to
travel on economy class for both local and international travels.
Similarly, all non-executive chairmen and members of federal government
boards of parastatals are henceforth to travel economy class.”
The circular makes an exemption for ministers, permanent secretaries,
presidential aides, service chiefs and “relevant” heads of armed and
para-military services who are still allowed to travel business class.
Lawal said there should be “immediate compliance” with the directive
“For avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that government will
monitor the implementation of this directive and any breach will be met
with appropriate sanctions,” he said.
This government is committed to prudently managing and stopping waste
and leakages in the system, there will be no room for duplication of
offices and responsibility; the Buhari led government has shown that it
is its desire that everybody benefits from the goodies that the change
mantra will bring to the country and not just a few people. If the truth
must be told, the past not a few civil servants and government officials
have gone away with blue murder in the name of foreign trip allowance,
otherwise called graft.
The Buhari led government has been working round the clock to ensure
that the suffering of Nigerians are assuaged and ameliorated, by laying
a solid foundation for a greater and better tomorrow. The campaign of
calumny against the government of President Buhari has been largely
predicated on ethnicity and tribal particularism as well as politics of
vendetta, especially by the opposition party that roundly defeated at
the polls after many years of misrule, bad governance and monumental
fraud. The other point which cannot be waved aside is the fact that one
of the cardinal policies of this administration is the war against
corruption, and since this government came on board, never like before,
it has consistently waged relentless war against graft in the country;
and the high and mighty are not spared; now in a surreptitious manner,
corruption is fighting back in a very dirty and desperate manner.
It is germane to observe and rightly so that, since the present
administration came on board under the leadership and watch of President
Muhammadu Buhari, the president and his team has worked relentlessly to
bail out the economy from the recession in which it is presently
enmeshed, an economic situation which is self-inflicted as a result of
bad governance, mismanagement, corruption and apparent lack of
accountability of past leaders in the country. They dissipated the
scarce financial resources of the country on conspicuous consumption as
well as hedonistic and epicurean lifestyles; and refused to save for the
raining day. It is this multifaceted errors of the past that the present
government is trying to put right, unfortunately, the present government
has been severally criticized by those who created the economic
challenges in the first place, particularly members of the past
administration, who mercilessly plunder and pillage the resources of the
country on selfish individual desires, thereby neglecting vast majority
of the people. With the body language and mannerism of some members of
the present administration, it is obvious that they are not on the same
page with the president in truly salvaging the country from economic
ruination and quagmire.
For instance, members of the national assembly, with all their economic
preachments and sanctimonious claims, they have rapaciously refused to
cut down on their illegal and immoral fat salaries and allowances, yet,
they want Nigerians to make sacrifices, while they feed fat on the sweat
and toil of Nigerians. As the government is working hard to resolve the
fundamental economic contradictions with the economy, people who have
illegitimately enriched themselves by pilfering the national treasury
and are presently undergoing trials, are clandestinely sponsoring
violence against the Nigerian state and painting the country black in
both local and international media.
This is contrary to some spurious and erroneous claims in some quarters
that this government is idle and doing nothing about the socio-economic
miasma in which the country is presently enmeshed, unfortunately, this
unfounded and baseless claim is gaining currency because of the hardship
Nigerians are presently going through. Those who created these problems
are now behaving like the much-needed messiah to rescue the country from
this crisis, but what did they do for the country and the people in the
last 16 years? The gang-up and conspiracy against the Buhari led
government is because of the anti-corruption crusade of the present
administration, hence, their inability to make cheap money and fleece
the country of funds needed for development. Undoubtedly, this
government is working hard and even world leaders know this fact, hence
the need for all Nigerians to rally round the government and move the
country forward; and stop the issue of violence, blackmail, vendetta,
corruption and anything that can inhibit growth and development in the
polity.
Therefore, the present administration in the country should be commended
and not vilified by the people, all that the government needs at the
this time is the cooperation, support, solidarity, patience and
understanding on the part of the people and anybody or group of people
that wants to constitute themselves into a cog in the wheel of progress
should be viewed as economic saboteur and should be dealt with, in
accordance with the provisions of the law, after all, Nigeria is greater
than anybody or group of people, and we should all join hands together
and make it great.