She Took the Job for the Money and Lost Herself

In a significant move aimed at enhancing efficiency and curbing costs, President Bola Tinubu has directed the implementation of recommendations outlined in the Steve Oronsaye Committee Report on the merger and scrapping of government agencies. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved this decision during its meeting on Monday, February 26, 2024, marking a crucial development more than a decade after the report's submission in 2012.

The decision to proceed with the implementation was motivated by the desire to streamline the Federal service and reduce the overall cost of governance. The restructuring and rationalization efforts will target various Federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions, involving mergers, subsuming, and outright scrapping of entities with overlapping functions.

Notably, the Oronsaye report, submitted to the Jonathan administration in 2012, had seen subsequent developments. The then President Goodluck Jonathan government released a white paper on the report in 2014, and the past Buhari administration re-examined and issued a second white paper in August 2022. However, despite these steps, the recommendations had not been put into action until now.

An eight-man committee has been constituted for the task and it has a 12-week deadline to ensure that the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms were carried out in an efficient manner.

The committee comprises Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Justice Minister, Budget and Planning Minister, DG Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special assistant to the president on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.

13 Government Agencies/Establishments to go after restructuring and merging:

According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, on Monday, he said the list is not exhaustive for now. Hence, pending when the whole picture will be clearer, find below the list of at least 13 establishments/agencies that will cease to exist upon the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee’s report:

National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). The National Assembly will need to amend the constitution as RMAFC was established by the 1999 constitution.

Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to be merged with Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and be rechristened as Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to swallow Public Complaints Commission (PCC).

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 (BCDA) to become a department under National Boundary Commission (NBC).

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 Corps to be merged under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to become an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Voice of Nigeria (VON) 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, Plateau State.