The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has called on the state governors to tread on the same path as President Bola Tinubu and ban foreign trips for senior government officials at the subnational levels.
The group praised Tinubu for his decision, describing it as a laudable move to check the frivolous use of public funds.
Speaking via a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, the chairman of the group, Jesutega Onokpasa asserted that the decision will have a huge effect on the cost of governance.
TMSG lamented that before Tinubu made the decision, officials were constantly going on foreign trips in a bid to outspend other department.
The group noted that the country was managed as if Nigeria had an inexhaustible foreign exchange reserves,
Jesutega said, “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.
“Hitherto, the economy was managed in a manner suggesting that Nigeria had an inexhaustible foreign exchange reserves, leading to a near collapse of the Naira.
“Almost every department of Government was in a race to outspend one another as officials embark on frivolous foreign trips with costly Estacodes (allowance for official trips) for those on such trips.
“Agreements and discussions that should have been handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or our embassies abroad became duplicated at all levels.
“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. This was a part of the cost of airline tickets for such trips.
“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 then urged the governors 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,” the group added.