The federal executive council yesterday endorsed the implementation of the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report, 12 years after it was submitted to the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The implementation involves merging, subsuming and scrapping agencies with similar functions.
Briefing journalists in Abuja after the weekly FEC meeting held at the presidential villa, the minister of information, Mr Mohammed Idris said the adoption of the report meant that some agencies, commissions, and departments of government would be scrapped or merged, and some would be moved to new ministries for better performance.
He said the adoption “is a bold move…under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, consistent again with his courage to take very far-reaching decisions in the interest of Nigerians.”
He added: “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.
“His is a very far-reaching decision. It is aimed, one, to fine-tune or to restructure government operations as a whole. Secondly, it’s in line also with decision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance.”
However, Idris said the implementation of the Oronsaye Report “does not mean people working in the affected agencies and departments will lose their jobs.”
He further said the latest action on the report “is a landmark decision” taken by FEC.
He recalled that in 2012, Jonathan’s administration instituted the Oronsaye panel aimed at rationalising the federal government parastatals, agencies, and commissions.
He said a paper was submitted in 2012, but it implementation was stalled.
“Now, instead of the rationalisation, that the Oronsaye Report was aimed to achieve, many other agencies and commissions were established.
“So in a very bold move today (yesterday), this administration…has taken a decision to implement the so-called Oronsaye 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.
“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.
“This is a very far-reaching decision. It is aimed, one, to fine-tune and to restructure government operations as a whole. Second, in line also with the vision of President Bola 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 (yesterday),” Idris stated.
Also briefing journalists, the special adviser to the president on policy and coordination, Mrs Hadiza Bala Usman, said the president had set up a committee headed by secretary to the government of the federation, Mr George Akume, to ensure that the approved mergers were concluded within 12 weeks.
“Mr. President constituted a committee that will work within a 12-week period to ensure that the necessary restructuring and legislative amendments that are needed to ensure that full actualisation of these approvals was granted. He tasked this committee with immediate terms of reference to proceed and ensure all of these are done within a period of 12 weeks.
“The committee will look at the administrative restructuring and also the legislative amendments required to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations.”
The presidential aide listed some of the agencies, departments and parastatals affected by the merger and subsuming under other ministries.
“For agencies that are required to be merged, the National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health.
“National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to be merged with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons; the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa to be merged with Directorate of Technical Aid and to function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to be merged with the Bureau for Public Enterprises; Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission to be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council; National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure to be merged with National Centre for Agriculture Mechanisation and Project Development Institute.
“The National Biotechnology Development Agency to be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology; the National Institute for Leather Science Technology to be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology; the Nomadic Education Commission to be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-formal Education.
“The Federal Radio Corporation to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria; the National Commission for Museum and Monuments to be merged with the National Gallery of Arts; the National Theatre to be merged with the National Troupe of Nigeria; the National Metrological Development Centre to be merged with the National Metrological Training Institute.
“The Nigerian Army University, Biu, to be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy, to function as a faculty within the Nigerian Defence Academy; Air Force Institute of Technology also to be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy, to function as a faculty of Nigerian Defence Academy.
“The Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) to be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform; the Border Communities Development Agency to be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission. The National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission.
“The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs; the Public Complaints Commission to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research; the National Medicine Development Agency to be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development. The National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the Nigerian Pension Commission.
“For agencies to be relocated, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company to be relocated to the Ministry of Power; the National Agricultural Land Development Agency to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; the National Blood Service Commission to be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health; the Nigerian Diaspora Commission to be converted into an agency and to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Finance.”
