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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Wednesday, eased fear of job losses after the implementation of the Oronsaye Report.
President Bola Tinubu had on Monday, approved the full implementation of the recommendations of Oronsaye report to reduce the cost of governance.
Consequently, 29 government agencies will be merged even as eight parastatals will be subsumed into eight other agencies.
Also, four agencies would relocated to various ministries while one has been earmarked for scrapping.
Submitted in 2012, the Oronsaye report on public sector reforms revealed that there were 541 statutory and non-statutoryFederal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies.
But speaking at the fourth edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing Series in Abuja on Wednesday, Idris said the implementation of the report would not lead to retrenchment.
“The whole idea is that the government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery. It does not mean that government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market,” the minister said.
He noted that the implementation of the report was a clear demonstration of “President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to fiscal prudence and responsible governance by championing a comprehensive review of the government‘s commissions, agencies and parastatals.”
“Through the implementation of Oronsaye’s report, President Tinubu aims to achieve significant cost savings by eliminating duplication of functions, streamlining administrative processes, and optimising resource allocation. This proactive approach will enable the government to operate more efficiently while maintaining the quality and delivery of services to the Nigerian people,” he said.
Idris added that the approval for the implementation of the Oronsaye report, which followed a very careful review, was to ensure that essential services were not compromised.
The minister, who said Nigerians were beginning to see the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by the president in various sectors, stressed that reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that Nigeria witnessed a GDP growth of 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 as against 2.54 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
He added that the NBS report also stated that capital importation rose to 66 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing a 36 per cent decline in the third quarter.