President Bola Tinubu on Monday has approved the mergers of some public parastatals and agencies in line with recommendations of the Oronsaye report submitted in 2012.
The move is seen as public finance analysts as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the burgeoning cost of running the affected agencies, particularly when most of them are not generating revenues to sustain their operations.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who disclosed the President’s directive during his interaction with State House Correspondents after Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, said the decision was taken in the best interest of Nigerians.
He explained: “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 Nigeria, 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 modified, and marked while others have been subsumed. Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries to others where the government feels they will operate better”, the minister added
The President’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Mrs Hadiza Bala-Usman, said that the President constituted a committee to implement the mergers, scrapping and relocation of the affected agencies within 12 weeks.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan had set up in 2012 the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the leadership of former Head of Civil Service, Stephen Oronsaye, a foremost public administrator.
The Oronsaye report on public sector reforms showed that there were 541 statutory and non-statutory Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies.
Among the key recommendations of the committee was that 263 of the statutory agencies be slashed to 161; 38 agencies be scrapped; 52 be merged and 14 be reverted to departments in various ministries.
The committee also recommended that the law establishing the National Salaries and Wages Commission be repealed and that its statutory mandate should be taken over by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission (RMAFC).
In addition, the Committee advised the FG to merge the three anti-corruption agencies, namely the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), amongst others.
