In continuation of the on-going cost-cutting and efficiency drive in the utilization of public funds by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the federal government has banned the procurement and distribution of conference bags, T-shirts and other souvenirs at events and activities such as Conferences, Workshops and Seminars organised and funded by Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.

This was contained in a press release by Salisu Dambatta, the Director of Information in the federal ministry of finance.

Dambatta said the new measures were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari following recommendations by the Efficiency Unit of the finance ministry, and has been 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, Abba Kyari, for implementation.

Dambatta explained 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 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.

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.

The MDAs were directed to save costs by uploading information of their activities, programmes and initiatives on their websites as that would guarantee wider visibility, and print only limited number of hard copies of such publications.

The efficiency unit in the finance ministry was established by the present administration to promote fiscal prudence on overhead expenditure thereby releasing resources for the development of vital national infrastructure.