In response to President Bola Tinubu’s directive that the Steve Oronsaye report be fully implemented, a number of agencies, including the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), will merge.
Osun Defender reports that other recommended mergers included the Voice of Nigeria (VON), the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). The National Examinations Council (NECO) and the National Poverty Eradication Programme, (NAPEP) were also to be scrapped.
A merger of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission was also suggested.
The Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, constituted a committee to implement the mergers, scrapping, and relocation within 12 weeks.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT OF THE ORONSAYE COMMITTEE HERE
“The report also recommended divesting the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB of powers to conduct examinations in the tertiary institutions in the country. According to the white paper, the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board would be divested of the powers to conduct matriculation examinations into tertiary institutions, while universities would be allowed to conduct their own entrance examinations for students.
“Although the JAMB would not be scrapped, it would be modelled along the same lines as the body in the United States of America that sets standards for admissions into institutions of higher learning, a mere administrative structure that would set standards for minimum requirements on how the various universities would conduct entrance examinations.
“The report recommends that the functions of NECO be assumed by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, which will also take over the structures of NECO nationwide. In order to make up for the deluge of students who sit for the external examinations of NECO, WAEC would be expected to conduct two external examinations, one in January and another in November, for external students while still running its internal examination programmes for secondary school students.”
Osun Defender reports that former President Goodluck Jonathan had in 2011 set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies under the chairmanship of a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Steve Oronsaye.
The committee submitted an 800-page report on April 16, 2012, wherein it uncovered a high level of competition among many overlapping agencies that created ill feelings among government agencies and caused expenditure wastages.
It also recommended, among other things, that government funding of professional bodies and councils be discontinued to free funds for capital projects.
The Oronsaye report established that there were 541 parastatals, commissions, and agencies (statutory and non-statutory) and recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies should be reduced to 161, while 38 agencies should be abolished and 52 should be merged
Recommended to be scrapped and placed as departments or units in relevant ministries were the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), the National Board for Technical Education, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, the Federal Character Commission, the Gurara Water Management Authority (GWMA), the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC), the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), the Commercial Law Department, and the Centre for Automotive Design and Development (CADD).
Also, to be merged or scrapped, according to the report, are the Standards Organisation of Nigeria; the Consumer Protection Council (CPC); the National Orientation Agency (NOA); the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), the Nigerian Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Studies (NIHOTOUR), the National Troupe and the National Theatre and the National Gallery of Arts; and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).
Others are the Nigeria Leather Science Technology, the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), the FIIRO, NASENI, and NCAM; the National Rural Electrification Agency (NREA), the 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); Nigerian Institute for Education Planners and Administrators; National Metallurgical Development Centre Jos; the National Metallurgical Training Institute Onitsha, and the Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences (NIMG) Jos.
Also are the 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, and Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
The committee also recommended that 14 of the agencies revert to departments in ministries.
However, the report was not implemented by the Jonathan administration.
The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, in November 2021, inaugurated two sub-committees for the implementation of the report.
The two 11-member sub-committees were Government White Paper on Oronsaye Report and Review of New Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions.
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
