Pegs Number of Aides Traveling With Him VP, First Lady
By Halimah Olamide
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday announced a new set of rules that will henceforth guide international and local travels of principal officials.
The new directives affect his office, vice president and that of the First Lady.
For Foreign trips, the President approved the followings:
•President – 20 persons
•Vice President -5 persons
•First Lady -5 persons
●Local Trips, he approved the followings:
•President – 25 persons.
•Vice President- 15 persons.
•First lady -10 persons.
Giving a breakdown of the new directive on Tuesday, his Special Adviser on Media, Ajuri Ngelale, said “Tinubu has directed that all state entourages be drastically reduced. This is not a request. It is a directive. The office of the president and staff will be affected. VP, appointees are affected.
“By this directive, there will be a slashing of expenditure on official travel by 60 per cent.”
As a result, President Bola Tinubu has imposed specific limitations on the number of accompanying staff for official travels outside Nigeria.
According to Ngelale, the President will now be accompanied by a maximum of 20 staff members during international trips.
Moreover, each minister has been instructed to restrict their entourage to only four staff members when embarking on foreign journeys, while heads of government agencies are now limited to a maximum of two accompanying personnel.
Ngelale also revealed that Tinubu has abolished the practice of extensive security delegations when visiting states within the country.
The President has directed that, in the event of his visit to any state, the local security apparatus will be solely responsible for his security.
The directive similarly applies to the Vice President and other high-ranking government officials.