1) Buhari and his vice took a paycut of 50% to symbolise their commitment to the cutting down on the cost of governance.
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2) Buhari then directed the RMAFC to review and prune down the salary of all public office holder in the country. That review will only come into effect after the expiration of the tenure of the current office holders, as the constitution says RMAFC cannot review the salary to the disadvantage of public office holders the moment they get into office.
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3) Buhari reduced the number of federal ministries from over 40 to just over 20. Buhari reduced the number of federal advisers by more than 50%.
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4) Buhari has limited the number of his entourage on foreign trips to essential personnels only. Buhari implemented the TSA to plug leakages in every institution of government.
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5) Buhari has used the BVN to fish out over 40,000 ghost workers, thereby saving billions of naira of monthly salary for Nigeria.
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6) Buhari removed the fraudulent subsidy, thereby saving government trillions of naira of annual payment for a program that was only oiling the pockets of the corrupt.
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7) No federal minister in Buhari's cabinet can travel out of Abuja without Buhari's say-so, thereby cutting down on wasteful spending associated with aimless travels.
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8) Buhari has restructured the NNPC into a profitable venture for the first time in ages, the waste and leakages associated with the corporation has been reduced drastically.
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9) Before Buhari appointed his ministers, he spent months plugging leakages in the federal civil service and revenue generating agencies, resulting in Nigeria having more revenue to fund the budget from the non-oil sector than the oil-sector for the first time since oil was discovered in Nigeria. Before Buhari took over, the oil sector contributed to 85% of our national revenue.
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10) And most recently, Buhari has ordered the sale of 2 presidential jets from a fleet of ten, and directed that some of the jets be transferred to the Airforce for operational purposes thereby saving security agency the procurement cost of new jets.
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11) President Buhari turned down moves to procure new cars for his office, preferring to use the ones left behind by his predecessor, and saving over N400 million as a result.
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12) No minister in Buhari's cabinet was allowed to purchase any new vehicle, they all use vehicles left behind by their predecessors.
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13) President Buhari has reduced import of certain items we have comparative advantage in to reduce the waste of foreign reserves.
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14) Buhari also liberalised the petroleum sector, allowing importers to source for forex themselves, thereby reducing the waste of foreign reserves.
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15) President Buhari's fight against corruption has also brought in a new discipline in the way public office holders handle money, they are now aware that they may be called to give account of their spending later in the future.
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The list of what Buhari is doing to cut down waste and reduce the cost of governance is almost endless. No other president in Nigeria has shown a greater commitment to this course than Buhari. It's true that Nigeria's problem is enormous and it becomes difficult to feel the immediate impact of what he is doing, but to sit down there and call him names because you don't know what he's doing is not only uncharitable but disrespectful.
Baridam Ben
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