President Bola Tinubu has resolved to implement the Stephen Oronsaye report that called for a leaner government by merging some agencies and scrapping some others.
The president’s decision was announced by a presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X.
Onanuga stated, “Twelve years after the Steve Oronsaye panel submitted its report on restructuring and rationalizing Federal government parastatals and agencies and a white paper issued two years after, President Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council today decided to implement the report.”
He added, “Many agencies will be scrapped and many others will be merged, to pave the way to a leaner government.”
FEC Meeting Update
Also, briefing State House correspondents after Monday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would be scrapped, merged or subsumed into relevant organisations of government. He emphasized that the aim was only to cut costs and not to throw Nigerians into the labour market.
Mr. Idris further stated that the details of the affected MDAs would be made known soon, adding that a committee had been set up for the implementation of the report.
Background of the Report
In 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan set up the presidential committee on the reformation of government agencies chaired by Steven Oronsaye, a former Head of Service of the Federation. Its terms of reference included, among others, examining the enabling Acts and mandates of all the federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions to determine areas of overlap or duplication of functions.
The committee, in its report, now called the Oronsaye Report recommended reducing 263 statutory agencies to 161, abolishing 38 agencies, merging 52 agencies, and reverting 14 to departments in ministries.
Failed Past Implementation Attempts
A white paper committee, headed by the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, reviewed the report and rejected most of the recommendations when it submitted its report in 2014. However, even the accepted recommendations were not implemented until the Jonathan administration left office in 2015.
Opposition and Criticism
Critics have accused Mr. Tinubu of not being willing to reform the civil service, citing the appointment of 50 ministers and frivolous budgetary expenses as evidence.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticized President Tinubu for failing to reduce the size of government, contrasting it with actions taken by Argentine President Javier Milei.
Expected Opposition
Organized labor groups are expected to oppose President Tinubu’s move as it may lead to job losses. This opposition comes at a time when workers in Nigeria are already facing economic challenges due to policies such as fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange unification. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are set to embark on nationwide protests against economic hardship.
