Tinubu Reduces Nigeria Delegation to Un General Assembly in a Bid to Save Cost

In a bid to reduce the cost of governance, President Bola Tinubu has directed that any government official who has no business in the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly should not be given a visa to fly abroad.

This was made public on Monday through the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale.

According to the briefing, President Bola Tinubu has directed the U.S. Mission in Nigeria to be guided in the processing of visas while he also urged Nigeria's Permanent Mission in New York to stop the accreditation of government top officials who are not placed on the protocol list forwarded to the authority.

Ajuri Ngelale stated,

• To prevent any sharp practice in this regard, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria is accordingly guided on official visa processing while Nigeria’s Permanent Mission in New York is further directed to prevent and stop the accreditation of any government official who is not placed on the protocol lists forwarded by the approving authority.

• By this directive of the President, all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies are mandated to ensure that all officials, who are approved for inclusion in the UNGA delegation, strictly limit the number of aides and associated staff partaking in the event. Where excesses or anomalies in this regard are identified, they will be removed during the final verification process.

• The President wishes to affirm that, henceforth, government officials and government expenditure must reflect the prudence and sacrifice being made by well-meaning Nigerians across the nation.

The U.N. General Assembly would be held from September 18 to 26. The invitation for the meeting was conveyed to President Bola Tinubu by U.S. presidential envoy.