IT’S EXPENSIVE: Buhari strikes out souvenirs, bags, T-shirts from FG events

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the ban on conference bags, T-shirts and other souvenirs at workshops and seminars organised and funded by federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Salisu Na’ Dambatta, a director in the ministry of finance, disclosed this in a statement, saying the development is part of the on-going cost-cutting and efficiency drive in the utilisation of public funds by the current administration.

“The new measures were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari following recommendations by the efficiency unit of the federal ministry of finance, and conveyed to the secretary to the government of the federation, the head of the civil service of the federation and the ministers of finance and budget and national planning, by the chief of staff to the president, Alhaji Abba Kyari, for implementation,” the statement read.

“The directive is a recognition of the fact that in a period of lean financial resources in the face of huge national infrastructural deficit, wasteful and unnecessary expenditure on overheads such as on souvenirs and conference bags were luxuries that the government must eliminate to release funds for infrastructure and services such as health and education that would have direct positive impact on the wellbeing of the citizenry and promote economic development.”

The statement said the amount spent on printing conference materials would be slashed henceforth.

“The directive also contained specific guidelines that would reduce the cost of printing invitation cards, programme of events, brochures, folders and note pads. Among the guidelines are that they should be in black and white and limited to only one page and in the case of Brochures they should be streamlined to contain only essential information,” the statement read.

“Similarly, the directive has banned the printing of unnecessary publications and books of short shelf life which have no real value to the concerned public institutions or the citizens.

“While noting the need for the citizenry and other interested parties to be aware of the initiatives, activities and programmes being implemented by the government, the MDAs were directed to save costs by uploading such publications on their websites which have the added benefit of wider visibility, and print only limited number of hard copies of such publications.”