President Bola Tinubu has announced a restriction for ministers, ministers of state, and heads of Federal Government agencies to a maximum of three vehicles in their official convoys. This directive, aimed at streamlining government operations, also states that no additional vehicles will be allocated for their movement.
The decision was communicated by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, and is part of a broader initiative to reduce government expenditures. In January, President Tinubu had already taken steps to minimize costs by reducing the entourage for foreign trips from 50 to 20 officials and limiting local trips to 25 officials. The Vice President’s entourage was also capped at five officials for foreign trips and 15 for local trips.
In conjunction with the vehicle restrictions, the President has ordered that each minister or agency head be accompanied by no more than five security personnel, which will consist of four police officers and one officer from the Department of State Services (DSS). He emphasized that no additional security personnel would be assigned.
The President has also directed the National Security Adviser (NSA) to collaborate with military and paramilitary agencies to evaluate a suitable reduction in their vehicle and security personnel deployments. All affected officials are expected to comply with these new measures immediately, underscoring their urgency.
The recent reshuffle in the cabinet, which involved the removal, appointment, and redeployment of certain members of the Federal Executive Council (NEC), was influenced by public perception. This restructuring included the reassignment of 10 ministers to new roles, the dismissal of five, and the nomination of seven new candidates for Senate confirmation.
Additionally, the President has made some notable changes to government ministries, including renaming the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development, scrapping the Ministry of Sports Development, and merging the Ministries of Tourism and Arts and Culture into the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy