Tinubu Orders Full Implementation Of Oronsanye Panel Report⁣ ⁣

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye panel report.⁣ Former President Goodluck Jonathan set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies under the chairmanship of Mr Steve Oronsaye, in 2011.

The committee submitted an 800-page report on 16 April 2012, in which it uncovered a high level of competition among several overlapping agencies, which not only created ill feelings among government agencies but also brought about unnecessary wastage in expenditure.

It also recommended, among other things, the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils to free funds for capital projects.

The report established that there are 541 Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies (statutory and non-statutory) and recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies should be reduced to 161, while 38 agencies should be abolished and 52 should be merged

The panel also recommended that 14 of the agencies should revert to departments in ministries.

The Oronsaye report was submitted in 2012 to the Jonathan administration. In 2014, the Jonathan government released a white paper on the report. The Buhari administration after re-examining the white paper also released a second white paper in August 2022 but did not implement the report.

However, the Tinubu administration has decided to confront the monster of high governance costs by implementing elements of the report.

Addressing State House Correspondents at Aso Rock, Abuja, on Monday, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said,  “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.” 

Commenting on the development, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, said it was in line with the need to reduce the cost of governance and streamline efficiency across the governance value chain.

An eight-man committee has a 12-week deadline to ensure that the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms are effected in an efficient manner.

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, DG Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special assistant to the president on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.

Key recommendations for implementation:

• National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. The National Assembly will need to amend the Constitution as RMAFC was established by the Constitution.
• Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission to be merged with the Bureau of Public Enterprise and be rechristened as `Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission. 
• National Human Rights Commission to swallow Public Complaints Commission
• The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate( PTAD) is to be scrapped and functions to be taken over by the Federal Ministry of Finance. 
• NEMA and the National Commission for Refugees to be fused to become National Emergency and Refugee Management Commission
• Border Communities Development Agency to become a department under National Boundary Commission
• NACA and NCDC to be merged
• SERVICOM to become a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform (BPSR). 
• NALDA to return to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
• Federal Ministry of Science to supervise a new agency that combines NCAM, NASENI and PRODA
• National Commission for Museums and Monuments and National Gallery of Arts to become one entity that will be known as the National Commission for Museums, Monuments and Gallery of Arts.
• National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe.
• 13. Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and Directorate of Technical Aid Corp to be merged under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to become an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Federal Radio Corporation and Voice of Nigeria to be one entity to be known as Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria
• 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).
• National Institute for Leather Science Technology and National Institute for Chemical Technology to become one agency.
• Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development to become one agency.
• The National Metallurgical Development Centre and National Metallurgical Training Institute will be merged.
• National Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed under the Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.

Meanwhile, in a post on his Facebook page, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu, Mr Bayo Onanuga shared the highlights of the FEC meeting including the following: 

1. FEC approved the construction of the Lagos-Port Harcourt-Calabar Coastal Superhighway to Messrs Hitech Construction Africa. The First phase made up of 47 km will begin in Lagos.
2. Social security payments to vulnerable households to begin immediately. Recipients will be those with NIN and BVN.
3. Social security payments are to be extended to graduates from NCE and upwards. 
4. Consumer Credit is to be established very urgently. Chief of Staff to lead a committee that includes the Budget Minister, Attorney-General, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance, to make the scheme a reality.
5. The Council, in order to enhance efficiency in the federal service and reduce the cost of governance, decided to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye panel on the restructuring and rationalisation of federal agencies, parastatals and commissions.

The implementation involves merging, subsuming and scrapping agencies with similar functions.

Eighteen-Eleven Media