Tinubu’s ban on foreign trips will curb frivolous spending by government officials – Group

The Tinubu Media Support Group, TMSG, has said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to ban foreign trips for senior government officials would check frivolous travels and use of public funds.

It said the President’s decision to stop frivolous foreign trips at taxpayers’ expense is a welcome development that should have salutary effects on the foreign exchange reserve.

The chairman of the group, Jesutega Onokpasa, in a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja, said the decision will reduce the cost of governance.

It added that almost every department of government was in a race to outspend one another as officials embarked on frivolous foreign trips with costly estacodes for those on such trips.

It stressed that agreements and discussions that should have been handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or foreign embassies abroad became duplicated at all levels.

The group emphasised that the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment was also treated as if it did not exist, as officials scrambled for scarce foreign exchange to spend abroad, saying this was apart from the cost of airline tickets for such trips.

It added: “A laudable template has been laid by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for state Governors, who have the interest of the country at heart. Mr. President’s decision to stop frivolous foreign trips at taxpayers’ expense is a welcome development that should have salutary effects on our foreign exchange reserve.

“Now, it is becoming a different story with the firm resolve of President Tinubu to bring down the cost of governance. In addition to his recent resolve to implement the Oronsaye report by merging government agencies with overlapping functions, Nigeria is set to save a lot of funds from the gross wastage of the past. This is commendable.”

TMSG also urged the subnationals to take a cue from the President and put a similar structure in place.

“If the 36 state Governors can borrow a leaf from this initiative of Tinubu, it would go a long way to stem the tide of leakages in our finances as well as steady the decline in our foreign reserves.

“Apart from the beneficial effect to our foreign exchange reserves, it will show Nigeria as a serious country in the comity of nations, where the giant of Africa is no longer ready to accept that ‘anything goes.’

“Fiscal discipline is critical for national discipline,” he added.