President Tinubu cuts the size of official entourages by 60% in a bid to reduce government costs

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed that the size of all federal government entourages to local and international events be drastically reduced by 60% as part of a plan to reduce the cost of governance.

In a major policy announcement, the president also directed that on every local trip involving the government, security details must be drafted from the host state. Presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale, said that under the new directive, the president will now travel with only 20 officials, the vice president will now only have an entourage of five officials, as will the first lady and the wife of the vice president.

For local trips, the size of the president's entourage has been reduced to 25, that of the vice president to 15 and that the first lady and the wife of the vice president to 10. According to Mr Ngelale, the essence of the reduction was to bring total sanity and prudence in the management of resources.

He also said that henceforth, ministers delegations for foreign trips will have a maximum of four officials, while the heads of the ministries, departments and agencies will travel with a maximum of two officials. On local trips, the president directed that there will not be a huge security entourage that would incur huge bills in form of duty travel allowance.

Mr Ngelale warned that any official that flouts the directive will be doing that at his or her own peril. A circular 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.