Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has temporarily suspended all public-funded foreign trips for all of his ministers and state officials.
A government statement said the move was prompted by the president’s “concerns about the rising cost of travel expenses” by public officials.
“Mr President has concerns about the rising cost of travel borne by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government as well as the growing needs for Cabinet members and heads of MDAs to focus in their respective mandates for effective service delivery,” the statement said as the directive is expected to take effect from April 1, for the next three months.
According to local outlet, Channels TV, Tinubu had faced heavy criticism over his government’s “bloated” number of delegates at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai last December, and so part of his new directives on travel ban is aimed at countering the public backlash.
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But a more closer motive for the ban is linked to the country’s current economic situation. Nigeria is facing one of its worst economic crisis as inflation is at its highest in almost three decades.
Outraged at the mounting hardship and insecurity, labour unions last month organised nationwide strikes demanding that the government distributes food equitably across the nation and eschew policies endorsed by the World Bank and IMF, which are perceived to exacerbate the populace’s suffering.
