The Orosanye report on public sector restructuring which was submitted to the Federal government since 2012 is finally being considered by the House of Representative, as stakeholders have been called to submit memoranda for consideration in the process of re-evaluating government agencies.
This call was made by Ibrahim Isiaka Ayokunle (APC-Ogun), the chairman of the Special Committee on Restructuring of Federal Agencies and Commissions, on Tuesday at a news conference in Abuja. He also invited all interested individuals and organisations to a public hearing on the Orosanye report and other related matters to be held on Wednesday 10th July.
The Federal Executive Council approved the full implementation of the Oronsaye Report on February 26, 2024. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, went on to inaugurate an 8-member Committee on March 7, saddled with the responsibility of implementing recommendations in the report within 12 weeks.
The report seeks to rationalise and reduce the numbers of departments and agencies of government.
According to a list released by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the list of agencies, commissions and parastatals affected by the decision of the Federal Executive Council indicate two institutions for scrapping, 15 for merging, nine to be subsumed and four to be relocated. Merging some of these agencies of government would require legislative action because they were established by law.
The activities of government agencies and parastatals have long been prejudiced with huge number of staff several being from same or known families, relations and friends of government officials. The partiality in civil service employment is also a cry to the partisan activities in the sector.
According to Isiaka, “We must revisit the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report and other pertinent white papers to ensure that we are aligning our government structures with current realities, best practices, and the changing needs of our society.”
He added, “The world is evolving rapidly, and our government agencies and commissions must be structured in a way that enables them to deliver on their mandates effectively and efficiently.”
He noted that through the review, the committee hoped to identify redundancies, duplications, inefficiencies, and areas of improvement within the Federal Government agencies and commissions.
“Our goal is to apply the legislative approach in streamlining operations, eliminate duplication of functions, enhance service delivery, and optimise resource allocation.
“This review will be comprehensive and thorough, taking into cognisance the diverse perspectives and expertise available to us,” he said.
Ayokunle said, “We acknowledge the importance of stakeholder engagement in this process, and we will require input from various stakeholders, including government officials, experts, civil society organisations, and the general public.”
It is still unclear how the implementation of the report will not result in job loss especially as a parastatal has been recommended to be scrapped. The whole idea of setting up the Oronsaye Committee was to shrink agencies, reduce overstaffing and make the agencies effective and viable.
The decision to cut down government expenses is a welcome one. It will be more effective if the restructuring does not end at the ministries. All other levels and actions of government from the executive to the legislature, state governments and the likes need to be cut down to accommodate the economic realities of the country.
