Twelve years after it was submitted to the Federal Government, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the adoption of aspects of the Stephen Orosanye report aimed at the reduction of cost of governance, for implementation.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to journalists during a media briefing after the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.

According to Idris, 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.

The 2012 report, commissioned by former President Goodluck Jonathan, had called for the consolidation, merger or scrapping of numerous redundant and inefficient government parastatals.

However, successive administrations failed to act on the report.

“There is a landmark decision that was taken by the Federal Executive Council today. Recall that in 2012, the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan instituted the so-called Orosanye Report. It is aimed at rationalizing the federal government parastatals, agencies and commissions.

“Now, a paper was turned-in in 2012, but the implementation got stalled. Again, in 2021, almost seven years after that, the 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 that Orosanye Report was aimed to achieve, many other agencies and commissions were established.

“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 taken a decision to implement the so called Orosanye 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.

“Like I said, this 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,” he said.

He explained that the adoption of the report did not mean people working in the affected agencies and departments will lose their jobs.

The Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, provided an exhaustive list of the agencies, commissions and parastatals affected in the reorganisation.

She said: “For agencies that are required to be merged, I’ll take it; 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 Mechanization 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 the 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) 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 Mobilization 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.” She said.

Bala Usman further informed President Tinubu had 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 actualization of these approvals granted.

She said that the President tasked the committee with an immediate terms of reference to proceed and ensure all of these are done within a period of 12 weeks.

The committee membership comprises of the Secretary to the Government of Federation who will chair it while members are the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reform, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination; the two Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly 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 are applicable 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,” she said.

The Oronsaye 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 government later set up a White Paper Drafting Committee headed by the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, to study the recommendations and to produce a White Paper on the report.

The White paper Drafting Committee had many other top government functionaries such as: Ms. Ama Pepple, Minister of Land, Housing/Urban Development; Alhaji Isa Bello Sali, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; Chief Emeka Wogu, then Minister of Labour and Productivity; Mrs Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology; and Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission.

Others were: Dr A. J. Awosika, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power; Engr. Emeka Eze, Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement; Dr. Ochi C. Achinuvu, Senior Special Assistant, Economic Matters, Office of the COS to the President; and Mr. Femi Olayisade, Permanent Secretary, General Services Office (OSGF) who served as member/secretary.

While summarising his 800-page report, the committee noted that: “It is a fundamental breach of the acceptable practice of good public sector governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency to suit political or individual interests.  Such a practice, it said, has proved eventually to precipitate systemic conflicts, crises and even collapse at a substantial but avoidably high financial cost to the government.”

The presidential committee noted further that: “The long-standing challenges that beset the Nigerian public sector, including the parastatals, have created a ‘single story’ of inefficiency, corruption, poor work environment, low morale, ineffectiveness, deceit and low productivity, thereby establishing a perception of a dysfunctional and unproductive public sector…where it is unable to perform its legitimate functions creditably.”

The committee proffered four ways to immediately tackle the high cost of governance. These include: “Reduction in the number and size of the governing boards of parastatals; linking the budgetary system to deliverables and output; Implementation or vacation of some decisions taken on past reports; and Removal of all professional bodies/councils from the national budget.”

The committee established that as of then, there were 541 government parastatals, commissions and agencies (statutory and non-statutory). 263 of these were statutory agencies which it recommended reduced to 161. To achieve this, the committee proposed the abolition of 38 agencies, the merger of 52 and the reversion of 14 to departments in ministries.

The rationale was that there were “duplications and overlaps in the mandates of many parastatals and agencies…without regard to existing laws and, in some cases, out-rightly replicating extant laws.”

The recommendations of the Oronsaye Report bordered on historic weaknesses in the country’s public service. President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the report, however, came in November 2021, when it instituted two committees under two former Heads of Service of the Federation. The first was to review the Oronsaye Report while the other was to interrogate all new establishments set up after 2014.

Highlights of the Oronsaye Report:

Oronsaye Committee had far-reaching recommendations on MDAs that should be abolished, scrapped, those to be merged and those to become self-funding, thereby freeing funds for the much-needed capital projects across the country.

– 929 MDAs currently in the Federal Government budgeting structure

– The report identified 541 Parastatals, Commissions, and FG Agencies.

– Recommends 38 Federal Agencies to be abolished – Public Complaints Commission, National Poverty Eradication Programme, Utilities Charges Commission, National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, National Intelligence Committee, etc.

– 14 agencies to be fused into ministries where they were created e.g Debt Management Office to the Federal Ministry of Finance

– Public Health Department back to the Federal Ministry of Health

– National Information Technology Development Agency to be fused into the Ministry of Communication Technology

– Reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161

– 52 institutions to be merged: NTA, FRCN & VON into the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (FBCN)

– NCC & NBC into Communication Regulatory Authority of Nigeria (CRAN);

– CCB, EFCC & ICPC to be merged into the Anti-Corruption Commission.

– Another key recommendation of the committee was to discontinue government funding of professional bodies and councils.  Consequently, there is a need to amend the Professional Bodies (Special Provisions) Act, of 1972 which mandates the government to provide financial support of various kinds to such bodies. – They include the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN); Computer Professionals Council of Nigeria (CPRCN); Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON);  Nigeria Press Council; Architects Registration Council; Council for Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN); Estate Surveyors’ Registration Board (ESRB); Town Planners Council (TPC); Nigerian Builders Council (NBC; Quantity Surveyors’ Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRB); Nigerian Builders Council (NBC); and Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG).

Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be scrapped and its functions to be transferred to the Department of Strategic Studies in the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA).

The committee recommended that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) and Petroleum Equalisation Fund be merged with Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF). The government was undecided on this recommendation.

– Based on the White Paper, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) would be abolished and its enabling law repealed as its functions are being performed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.  A similar fate awaits the Salaries and Wages Income Commission.

– The trio of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) were recommended to be merged into a new body to be known as the Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA) and their respective enabling laws amended accordingly to reflect the merger.

– Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), the Committee recommended that it be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to synergize for management and utilization of resources.

– The Committee recommended that the enabling law of the National Commission for Nomadic Education be repealed and the Commission’s activities taken over by the Universal Basic Education Commission.

– National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and their function performed in the Ministry of Environment.

– The recommendation that the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC) be merged with the National Troupe and the National Theatre into one agency was accepted by the government. The merged entity is to be named the National Theatre of Nigeria.

– The committee recommended that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) be scraped and government restrict itself to only providing consular service and vaccination of intending pilgrims.

– The Nigerian Communications Commission, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and the regulatory functions of the Nigerian Postal Services were recommended by the committee to be merged.

– 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 Bureau of Public Enterprise and be rechristened as `Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission

– National Human Rights Commission to swallow Public Complaints Commission

– Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate(PTAD) to be scrapped and functions to be taken over by Federal Ministry of Finance

– NEMA and 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 National Commission for Museums, Monuments and Gallery of Arts.

– National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe.

– 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 Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.

White Paper Report Oronsaye Report, TheNigeriaLawyer

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