Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Following President Bola Tinubu’s directive that on Monday that Oronsaye report on public sector reforms should be fully implemented, some ministries, departments and agencies of government would be merged, subsumed, scrapped or relocated.
The Oronsaye report on public sector reforms, which was submitted in 2012, revealed that there are 541 statutory and non-statutory Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies.
In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan had 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 of the Federation, 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.
Here are some of the ministries, departments and agencies that would be affected by the implementation of the report:
1. Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to be be abolished and its functions are to be performed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC)
2. The trio of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) are 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.
3. Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) to be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to synergize for management and utilization of resources.
4. Utilities Charges Commission (UCC) to be scrapped.
5. Enabling law of the National Commission for Nomadic Education to be repealed and the commission’s activities taken over by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
6. National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and their functions to be performed in the Ministry of Environment
7. National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI); Federal Institute for Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) and Projects Development Institute (PRODA) to be merged.
8. Abolishment of the Federal Character Commission
9. National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC), National Troupe and the National Theatre to be merged into one agency.The merged entity is to be named National Theatre of Nigeria.
10. Reduction in the number of Federal Civil Service Commissioners to a minimum of seven or a maximum of 12.
11. 1999 Constitution be amended to expunge the registration of births and deaths from among the functions of local government councils since the same are contained in the Exclusive List.
12. The committee proposed that the nation’s three anti-corruption agencies—the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) should be merged.
13. The law establishing the National Salaries and Wages Commission be repealed and its functions taken over by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission (RMAFC).
14. The committee recommended that Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) be subsumed in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for greater synergy and their enabling laws amended accordingly.
15. Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) yo be scrapped and its functions taken over by the National Boundary Commission.
16. National Emergency Management (NEMA) to be merged with the National Refugees Commission
17. It was recommended that the road safety functions of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should revert to the highways department of the Federal Ministry of Works
18. The committee recommended that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) be scrapped and government restrict itself to only providing consular service and vaccination of intending pilgrims
19. The committee recommended that the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Voice of Nigeria (VON) should be merged.
20. NECO and NABTEB were recommended to be scraped and their functions reverted to the West African Examinations Council.
