The House of Representatives has renewed moves at streamlining, and or possibly scrapping or merging some government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) performing similar functions. JOSHUA EGBODO writes
Past attempt
Public analysis of fiscal commitments of the federal government of Nigeria, as glaring in its annual budgets always point out high running cost in recurrent expenditure, which usually dwarf the percentage available for execution of capital projects as is expected in tune with global standards. The worrisome development compelled, or so it was believed, the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to raise the Mr. Steve Oronsaye’s special committee to review the nation’s public service structure and advise the government.
The report
What pundits who followed the process put as indisputable inferences from the Oronsaye Committee report then were that there were 541 Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies, including statutory and non-statutory bodies, a suggestion that 263 of the statutory agencies be reduced to 161 with 38 agencies recommended to be abolished. The panel further wanted 52 agencies to be merged; and 14 reverted to departments in parent ministries.
Following the report, the government was to set up a White Paper Drafting Committee, headed by the then Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), to study the recommendations of the Oronsaye panel and follow up with a White Paper. When the White Paper was up, the government accepted only a few of the recommendations therein.
Mixed reactions
Just as the government’s position on the report came public in 2014, there were mixed reactions from different quarters of the polity. There was firstly, the timing question as 2014 was just barely a year away from the 2015 general election, a period seen by many pundits as a time no political suicide could be committed by the sitting government, which had hope of securing victory in the expected polls. The feeling of many then was that the Jonathan government may have kept its implementation waiting, and possibly to revisit same after the electoral victory which never was.
Other issues were more on the economy, as it was on record that at about the same time in 2014, Nigeria bounced back as the largest economy in Africa, a development many analysts saw as a trophy the government, after battling out of a recession will throw in the trash with a hurried implementation of the recommendations with its expected attending reaction, and more considerations.
Reps on a fresh mission
In the opinion of many, the current House of Representatives (9th Assembly) in keeping with the promises in its legislative agenda, which it termed a service contract with Nigerians, and in which cutting the cost of governance enjoyed a strategic and prominent position, may have opted to revisit the matter, especially in tune with the Oronsaye’s panel report.
On June 29, 2022, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila inaugurated an Ad hoc committee to that effect.
The mandate
In his speech at the committee’s inauguration, Gbajabiamila insisted that an organisation’s vision and mission must of necessity be derived from the mandate and functions enunciated by its establishment act or any instrument that establishes it, stressing that “uncertainty sets in when we have multiple agencies carrying out the same functions, leading to bickering, suspicion, and eventually duplication of efforts and waste of hard-earned government resources and time.”
He also recalled that governments in the past have put in place measures to ensure effective and efficient service delivery by agencies of government, citing the creation of SERVICOM by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as one example. But this to him, could not achieve much without a clearly defined mandate.
He informed stakeholders that committee has gotten the mandate of the House, to in the coming days, “Investigate duplication of duties, overlapping functions and counter-productivity of established Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Boards and Corporations in the country; ascertain the root cause of regular bickering among some established Departments, Agencies, Boards and Parastatals in the country; and establish areas of mergers, synergies, and justification of the existence of some of the established Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Boards and Corporations”.
The Speaker also assured that the House of Representatives was “not out to witch-hunt any individual or organisation, but we are propelled by our desire to ensure good governance and in the exercise of our legislative oversight powers as enshrined in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)”.
He thus tasked the committee to come up with solutions to the apparent continuous conflict of functions and avoidable bickering among established Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s), resulting in ineffectiveness, inefficiency and redundancy in the government workforce.
The Committee is, therefore, expected to engage relevant stakeholders and members of the public with a view to resolving the areas of conflict among the MDA’s, which may require amending some laws and/or outright repeal, as the case may be.
“I would encourage the committee to use the cordial and productive working relationship between the Executive and the 9th National Assembly to carry out your task of resolving issues of duplication of duties and bickering among MDA’s of the Federal Government”, he said, urging MDAs and other critical stakeholders to work with the Committee to complete its mandate in accordance with its Terms of Reference.
Committee expresses readiness
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Victor Danzaria in his address during the inauguration ceremony, described the task before the panel as being a thorn in the flesh of previous governments which peaked in 2011 with the establishment of the Steve Orosanye committee, to restructure and rationalise the MDAs.
He insisted however that “our task is different from that of Orosanye committee, whereas, their major concern was to reduce the cost of governance, ours is to streamline, merge and if need be, scrap some in order to bring about efficiency”, adding that inter-agency rivalry have far reaching implications on national security.
In action
The committee on Tuesday, began its engagements, listening to heads of agencies perceived to be performing similar functions, and their justifications to continue existing independently. The agencies in focus at the committee’s first hearing were; the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Council for Arts and Culture, National Gallery of Art, Nigeria Tourism Development Commission, and the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism.
Diverse opinion
As expected, there were different opinion of heads of the affected agencies. For instance, Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Ronsewe expressed support for the move by the House to merge and streamline some federal government-owned agencies.
Ronsewe described the move as one which “will make some of us more effective” in the discharge of responsibilities, and told the committee when asked if in his opinion, five agencies performing related function as his’ will be better off if brought under one roof, that “the five agencies can be merged. I totally agree with you”.
According to him, culture and tourism cannot be separated, as is the case in Nigeria. “You can’t go to Dubai today and be hearing all these names (agencies) here. It is just culture and tourism”, he argued, noting that some sister parastatals have been trying to operate parallel functions, with almost all carrying out one festival or another.
But Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, Nura Kangiwa thought differently that there were no similarities between his organisation and any other, saying that “our own is a training provider”.
He however could not satisfy the committee on which law that gave rise to appointment of a DG for the institute, when he said an amendment to its Act was passed last year, but yet to be signed into law by the President. He was asked to at a later date, finish the committee with details of the number of trainees of the agency since inception.
And curiously, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof Abba Tijani, declined taking any position on which of the agencies he thought could be merged with other(s). More related agencies have been lined up as the panel continues the engagements.
Hope in sight?
Many have seen the fresh and current move of the House of Representatives as another attempt at addressing an age-long and a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Bug the question remains and how feasible and soon, as the same vested interests that kept suppressing earlier attempts are still in existence.
With the investigative hearings still underway, Chairman of the panel, Hon. Victor Danzaria has reassured Nigerians that the essence was to look into how desirable the agencies were, “so that government don’t waste resources on agencies”.
The panel’s final recommendation will provide the road map for a legislative intervention of the House, but the race against time as 2023 general election beckons, and the political will to act on same is a worrisome phenomenon to many.