To cut the high cost of travelling by public officials, the Federal Government on Wednesday barred its top personnel from making officials trips on first class air tickets.
Henceforth, travels with Business Class tickets would be restricted to only ministers, permanent secretaries, chairmen of Federal Government committees as well as chairmen and chief executives of parastatals and agencies.
This was part of the recommendations by the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance to cut travel expenditure by about 20 per cent.
The recommendations were as a result of the review of the provisions of some extant government circulars on overhead expenses on official travels.
The review was carried out in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF).
Among other measures to reduce government’s huge expenditure on travels, government said it had negotiated for discounts with local and international airlines for its officials.