- Calls for review of Oronsanye, Goni Aji, Ama Pepple, Ebele Okeke White Papers before implementation
The House of Representatives on Thursday harped on the need for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to thoroughly review the Steve Oronsaye Report on the proposed restructuring of the Federal Government Ministries, Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies.
Recall that President Tinubu last week approved the full implementation of the White Paper on Steve Oronsanye’s report, which recommended the scrapping and merging of 220 out of the 541 MDAs.
Hon. Abbas, who announced the Ad-hoc Committee to be chaired by Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonbvere, explained that the Ad-hoc Committee will recommend the appropriate measures to mitigate the likely fallout of the review process of Steve Oronsanye’s report on
In a related development, the House, which suffered with the process adopted by Mr. President, called for a comprehensive review of the 2012 Orosanye Report, the Goni Aji Report, which reviewed the Orosanye Report, the White Paper released by the President Jonathan administration, the Ama Pepple White Paper, and the Ebele Okeke White Paper in line with current realities, while considering implementable alternatives that are in tune with current realities and which at the same time would have minimum unintended consequences, impacts, implications, and outcomes.
The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance jointly sponsored by Hon. Kama Nkemkanma, Hon. Olumide Osoba and Hon. Gaza Gbwefi
In his lead debate, Hon. Nkemkanma observed that “in 2012, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration set up the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies, headed by Stephen Oronsaye, a retired federal civil servant and former Head of Service of the Federation.
“The House is aware that the Oronsaye Committee, after their painstaking assignment, recommended the scrapping and merging of 220 out of the then existing 541 government agencies.
“The House is also aware that the Committee’s 800-page report noted that the government’s parastatals and agencies’ functions are overlapping and therefore recommended the reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, the abolition of 38 agencies, the merger of 52 and the reversion of 14 to departments in ministries, and the management audit of 89 agencies capturing biometric features of staff, as well as the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils.
“The House is again aware that the Oronsaye Report said then that if the committee’s recommendation was implemented, the government would be saving over N862 billion between 2012 and 2015, with a breakdown that showed that about N124.8 billion would be reduced from agencies proposed for abolition; about N100.6 billion from agencies proposed for mergers; about N6.6 billion from professional bodies; N489.9 billion from universities; N50.9 billion from polytechnics; N32.3 billion from colleges of education; and N616 million from boards of federal medical centres.
“The House is further aware that after the committee’s report, the White Paper committee set up by Jonathan’s administration rejected most of the recommendations, while those accepted were not implemented.
“The House notes that in November 2021, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration inaugurated two committees; one of the committees, chaired by Goni Aji, a retired Head of Civil Service of the Federation, was to review the Orosanye report, and the second committee, chaired by Ama Pepple, also a retired Head of Civil Service of the Federation, was constituted to review agencies created between 2014 and 2021.
“The House also notes that upon submission of their reports, the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government in July 2022 set up another committee chaired by Ebele Okeke, a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, to produce a white paper on the reports.
“The House is worried that the full implementation of a report 12 years after it was first made, which ordinarily may be described as outdated, especially because of how dynamic society, economy, politics, technology, and all facets of our national life have been,.
“The House is concerned that, contrary to the assumption that the full implementation of the report would reduce the cost of governance, with the current realities, the full implementation of the report will not substantially reduce the cost of governance as it does not reflect the current situation in the Public Service of the Federation.
“The House is deeply worried that the full implementation of the 2012 Oronsaye report in 2024 will certainly have unintended consequences, implications, and outcomes. It is committed to supporting all positive actions and policies of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration that have minimum unintended consequences, impacts, implications, and outcomes.
“The House is cognizant of the primary purpose of government being the security and welfare of the citizens as enshrined in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” he noted.
The lawmakers also urged the Federal Government to develop and implement policies that will reposition the agricultural sector, the solid mineral sector, and the informal sector, which will serve as alternatives to those that may be laid off consequentially while at the same time spurring economic growth.
Tribune
