Buhari cancels estacode as ministries budget N2.4bn for foreign trips

Restricts travels to 8 in a year President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that travel days will no longer attract payment of estacode allowances for ministers and other government officials. He also said that duration of official trips shall be limited to only the number of days of the event as contained in the supporting documents […]

• Restricts travels to 8 in a year

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that travel days will no longer attract payment of estacode allowances for ministers and other government officials.

He also said that 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 directive, according to a statement yesterday by the Director of Information in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, is for immediate implementation.

Daily Trust gathered that normally a minister receives $900 as estacode per night during foreign trips, Permanent Secretaries and Chief Executive Officer, $600, Director/Deputy Director/ Assistant Director, $425. Level 07-13 get $381. Other Levels below 7 receive $200.

Ministries to spend N2.49bn on international travels, training

Meanwhile, federal ministries appropriated a total of N2.49 billion for international travels and training in 2020.

Daily Trust’s analysis of the 2020 budget undergoing consideration before the National Assembly showed that Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information and Culture as well as Budget and National Planning are among top proposed spenders on foreign trips in 2020.

A breakdown shows that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appropriated N108.73 million for international trainings and N1.21 billion for international travels and transports.

The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture proposed N63.57 million for international travels while the Ministry of Communication Technology made provision of N8.29 million for the same purpose in the 2020 budget.

The Ministries of Interior, Police Affairs, and Defense plan to spend N18.32 million, N9.96 million and N30.73 million on international travels and transport in 2020.

The Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs and that of Labour and Productivity appropriated for both unspecified foreign trips and international trainings.

The Special Duties Ministry proposed to spend N33.06 million on international trainings and N65.50 million on unspecified trips while the Labour and Productivity Ministry proposed to spend N24.46 million on international trainings and N19.04 million on unspecified foreign trips.

Daily Trust checks also showed that the Ministries of Youth and Sports, Education and Health also have budgets for international trainings and travels.

The Sports Ministry proposed to spend N3.42 million on international training and N99.03 million on unspecified international travels while the Ministry of Education plans to spend N13.45 million on foreign trainings and N17.95 million on international travels.

For the Ministry of Health, N12 million has been budgeted for international training and N8 million for international travel, unspecified as in the case of all other ministries.

N330.41 million was appropriated for international  travels for the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and N140.46 million for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

Ministries of Transport, Aviation and Justice budgeted N15 million, N1.5 million and N106.56 million respectively for international travels in 2020.

While the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development appropriated N36 million for international training, the Ministries of Women Affairs and Environment budgeted N49.99 million and N60 million for international travels.

However, the following ministries have no budget for both international travels and trainings: Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Power, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Works and Housing, Water Resources and Federal Ministry of Niger Delta.

In the statement, the president said the directive to ban estacode was part of measures to curb leakages and ensure efficiency in the management of government’s resources.

The statement read thus:”Henceforth, 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.

‘‘All Ministries, Departments and Agencies are 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.

‘‘They are further required to make their presentations using the existing template and also secure approvals on specific travels as contained in the plan from the appropriate quarters’’.

The president also directed that the nature and frequency of travels on all public funded travels (local and foreign) must be strictly for official purposes backed with documentary evidence.

“In this regard, 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.

“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,” the president directed.

Daily Trust however gathered that previously there was no limit to the number of aides the concerned officials travelled on foreign trips with. A source at one of the ministries said in some cases, an official travelled with as many as ten depending on the programme.

Buhari also directed that for class of air travels, 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, should continue to fly Business Class; while other categories of public officers are to travel on economy class.

The circular said the Auditor-General of the Federation had been directed to treat all expenditures that contravene these guidelines as ineligible.

Speaking on the development, top government officials told Daily Trust that while the new directive is good and in the interest of the nation, it would be varied for some categories of officials who have a lot to do outside the country and cannot accomplish them within the eight times allowed.

One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “there are some statutory and emergency responsibilities outside the country that some categories of government officials perform. It means that there has to be variations as those responsibilities cannot be handled below the ministerial or CEOs level”.

On the frequency of trips for the concerned officers, another official told Daily Trust that there are five to 12 ministries, whose heads have to travel outside the country at least a dozen times (12 times) in a year.

He refused to comment further when asked to name   one or two of them.

In his reaction, a lawyer, Niyi Akintola, described it as a welcome development.

He said the directive shows that the president has been listening to the cries of the people about the waste in public office.

“I was impressed to see the wife of the President arriving from the UK on a commercial flight: the British Airways. It means we are beginning to get it right on this. I commend the President,” he said.

Also, former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, said the move by the president would help the government save funds, especially at a time when it was borrowing so much to fund the budget.