President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the merging of 102 ministries, departments and agencies of government as recommended in a Goodluck Jonathan administration report.
Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, also confirmed the development on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, saying, it is in line with the current realities and the need for government to cut the cost of governance.
Stephen Oronsaye, a former head of civil service, led a committee set up by former President Jonathan to identify civil service inadequacies.
The seven-man committee had then noted that the “rationalization of agencies, parastatals and commissions would have human dimensions and cost implications.”
They recommended that the government focus on empowering the MDAs “to do more for less.”
The report is called ‘the Oronsaye report’ and in it was the recommendation for the abolishment and merging of 102 government agencies and parastatals.
Top among the agencies are Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, Petroleum Products Pricing, and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF, Ajaokuta Steel Company, and National Iron Ore Mining Company, NIOMCO.
These agencies are followed by the National Salaries and Wages Commission; Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission; Infrastructure Concessionary and Regulatory Commission; EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau; Fiscal Responsibility Commission; National Board for Technical Education; National Commission for Colleges of Education; Federal Character Commission; Gurara Water Management Authority (GWMA); Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC); National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA); Commercial Law Department; and Centre for Automotive Design and Development, CADD.
Others are Standards Organisation of Nigeria; Consumer Protection Council (CPC); National Orientation Agency (NOA); National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO); Nigerian Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Studies (NIHOTOUR); National Troupe and the National Theatre; National Gallery of Arts; Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN); Nigeria Leather Science Technology; National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT); National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA); Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI); FIIRO, NASENI, NCAM; National Rural Electrification Agency (NREA); National Power Training Institute of Nigeria, NAPTIN.
Also affected are the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA); Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR); National Economic Recovery Fund (NERFUND); National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA); Similarly, the Nigerian Institute for Education Planners and Administrators; National Metallurgical Development Centre Jos, National Metallurgical Training Institute Onitsha, Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences (NIMG) Jos; Nigerian Geological Survey; National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA); National Productivity Centre; Nigerian Copyright Commission; NTA, FRCN, Voice of Nigeria; National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Roll-Back Malaria, Epidemiology, and Surveillance, Occupational and Environmental Health, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.
The committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan was aimed at restructuring and reducing the cost of governance in the country.
Source: Daily Times, Daily Post
