By Cross Udo and Seyi Odewale
In a deft move, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved the adoption of the Orosanye Report aimed at the reduction of the cost of governance for implementation.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The Minister explained that the adoption of the report means that some agencies, commissions, and departments of government have been scrapped, some merged, some subsumed under some others and others moved under new ministries where they are supposed to perform better.
“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 decided to implement the so-called Orosanye Report.
“Now, what that means is that several agencies, commissions, and some departments have been scrapped, some have been merged, 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.
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“Like I said, this is a very far-reaching decision. It is aimed, one, to fine-tune or restructure government operations as a whole. Secondly, it’s in line also with the decision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance”, he said.
He, however, explained that the adoption of the report did not mean people working in the affected agencies and departments would lose their jobs.
According to the report, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, has been merged with Voice of Nigeria to be known as Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria, FBCN
The Minister 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 Jonathan instituted the Orosanye Report. It is aimed at rationalising 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, 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 rationalisation, that the 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 decided to implement the so-called Orosanye Report.
“Now, what that means is that several agencies, commissions, and some departments, have been scrapped, some have been merged, 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.
“As I said, those crapped include the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate has been scrapped, the National Senior Secondary School Education Commission is also being looked at 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 restructure government operations as a whole. 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 the government thought it wise that there is the need, since this committee had already been set up, white paper has already been produced, to take a bold decision to visit that. That has been done fully today.”
Also clarifying the council decision, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, “One of the key areas, as the Honourable Minister has mentioned, is the fact that our administration has taken a very bold step towards implementation on aspects of the Orosanye Panel Report, which speaks to mergers, subsuming, scrapping and relocation of parastatals, agencies and commissions of the federal government.
“This is in line with the need to reduce the cost of governance and ensure that we have streamlined efficiency across the governance value chain.
*NACA, NCDC to be merged; FRCN, VON to become FBCN; NHRC swallows PCC; PTAD to be scrapped, among others
“We’ll go through quickly the list of agencies that have been so earmarked to be scrapped and their functions moved to ministries and agencies and those merged those to be subsumed. For agencies that are required to be merged, I’ll take; 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 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 merge 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.
“We now move to the agencies to be subsumed. The Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) is to be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform; the Border Communities Development Agency is 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 is 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.
“In addition, Mr President constituted a committee that will work within 12 weeks to ensure that the necessary restructuring and legislative amendments that are needed to ensure that full actualization of these approvals was granted. He tasked this committee with immediate terms of reference to proceed and ensure all of these are done within 12 weeks.
“The committee membership comprises of the following; the Secretary to the Government of Federation will chair the committee; the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, member; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, member; the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning, member; the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reform, member; the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination is a member; the two Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly are members; and the Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as secretariat.
“The committee will look at the administrative restructuring and also the legislative amendments required to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations. There are other aspects of recommendations that have also been passed to the committee to look at.
“It’s important for us to appreciate the bold approval granted by Mr. President at the Federal Executive Council. This has been a recommendation that has been, I think, in the Nigerian discourse from 2012 and we’re here in 2024 and it’s so been approved, and the aspects that apply to mergers, as I said, subsuming, scrapping, and relocation of agencies are those that have been so considered, arising from the totality of the panel report.”
*Statutory agencies to be slashed from 263 to 161
Submitted in 2012, the Oronsaye report on public sector reforms revealed that there are 541 statutory and non-statutory- Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies.
In 2013, then President Goodluck Jonathan set up 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.
The 800-page report recommended 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.
