Twelve years after the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals and Commissions, headed by a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr Stephen Osagiede Orosanye, submitted its report, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered full and immediate implementation of the report to cut cost of governance in the country.
Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris disclosed this Monday while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
He said the president approved implementation of the report to cut cost of governance in the country.
The minister said some agencies would be scrapped while others would be merged or restructured in line with the recommendations of the committee.
Idris said: “There is a landmark decision that was taken by the Federal Executive Council today. Recall that in 2012, the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan instituted the so-called Orosanye Report. It is aimed at rationalizing the federal government parastatals, agencies and commissions.
“Now, a paper was turned in 2012, but the implementation got stalled. Again, in 2021, almost seven years after that, the former President Muhammadu Buhari also initiated a process to consider the 2014 white paper on the Orosanye Report. Again, the implementation of that also got stalled. Now, instead of the rationalization that Orosanye Report was aimed to achieve, many other agencies and commissions were established.
“So, in a very bold move today, this administration, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, consistent again with his courage to take very far-reaching decisions in the interest of Nigerians, has taken a decision to implement the so-called Orosanye Report.
“Now, what that means is that a number of agencies, commissions, and some departments, have actually been scrapped, some have been merged, while others have been subsumed. Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries to others where government feels they will operate better.
“Like I said, those scrapped include the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate, the National Senior Secondary School Education Commission is also being looked at with the aim to modify some of its processes and a final decision on that will be taken.
“Now, at the end of this exercise, we’re going to give you a clean copy of all those agencies that have been scrapped, modified, subsumed or moved to other ministries. Like I said, this is a very far-reaching decision. It is aimed, one, to fine-tune and to restructure government operations as a whole.”
He further said: “Second, in line also with the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance, some of these agencies, you will discover and as you know, are performing almost very similar functions, so government thought it wise that there is the need, since this committee had already been set up, white paper already been produced, to take a bold decision to visit that. That has been done fully today.”
…Legislative amendments follow
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, said an eight-man committee has a 12-week deadline to ensure the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms were effected in an efficient manner.
She said the committee comprises the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Justice Minister, Budget and Planning Minister, Director-General of Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly while the Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.
…The agencies to go
She said some of the key recommendations for implementation are: National Salaries, Income and wages Commission to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
Usman also said the National Assembly will need to amend the constitution as RMAFC was established by the constitution, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission(ICRC) to be merged with Bureau of Public Enterprise and be rechristened as `Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission while the National Human Rights Commission to swallow Public Complaints Commission.
Also, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is to be scrapped and functions to be taken over by Federal Ministry of Finance, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and National Commission for Refugees to be fused to become National Emergency and Refugee Management Commission, the Border Communities Development Agency(BCDA) to become a department under National Boundary Commission while NACA and NCDC to be merged, and SERVICOM to become a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform(BPSR).
Similarly, NALDA returns to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security while the Federal Ministry of Science is to supervise a new agency that combines NCAM, NASENI and PRODA.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments and National Gallery of Arts become one entity that will be known as National Commission for Museums, Monuments and Gallery of Arts.
The National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe while the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and Directorate of Technical Aid Corp to be merged under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to become an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Federal Radio Corporation and Voice of Nigeria to be one entity to be known as Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria.
The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology to be emerged into an agency to be known as National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA).
The National Institute for Leather Science Technology and National Institute for Chemical Technology to become one agency, while Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development are to become one agency.
The National Metallurgical Development Centre and National Metallurgical Training Institute will be merged, while the National Institute for Trypanosomiasis is to be subsumed under Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.
The Orosanye Committee had recommended, among other things, the trimming of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and conversion of 14 agencies to departments in some ministries.
Specifically, the committee recommended the merger of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), among others.
