LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OD NAIJA)- The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the full implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye Panel report to merge some parastatals, agencies, and some commissions, while others will be subsumed, scrapped or relocasted.
Hajiya Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, made this known at the end of the second FEC meeting of the year.
She said that decision was based on the Steve Oronsaye Report on civil service inaugurated under former President Goodluck Jonathanās administration.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan established the presidential committee on government agency reform in 2011, which was chaired by Steven Oronsaye, the Federation’s former Head of Service.
Its terms of reference had included among other things, reviewing the enabling Acts and mandates of all federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions to identify areas of overlap or duplication of functions.
The committee had recommended reducing 263 statutory agencies to 161, abolishing 38, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in ministries. However, a white paper committee led by the-Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke rejected the majority of the recommendations.
In 2021, the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated two committees to implement the report. One of the committees, headed by a former Head of Service, Bukar Aji, was mandated to review the Oronsaye Report and the government white paper. The other committee, chaired by Amal Pepple, was mandated to review MDAs created between 2014 and 2021.
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Affirming President Bola Tinubuās commitment to implement the report, she listed no fewer than 14 agencies and commissions that were affected by this directive.
For agencies that would undergo merger, Bala-Usman said the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria (VON) while the National Commission for Museum and monuments is to be merged with the National Gallery of Acts.
She said the National Theatre is to be merged with National Troupe of Nigeria while the National Meteorological Development Centre is to be merged with the National Meteorological Training Institute.
āāNational Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health while National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to be merged with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.
āāThe Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa will be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid and to function as a Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
āInfrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to be merged with Bureau for Public Enterprises.
āāNigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) to be merged with Nigerian Export Promotion Council while the National Agency for Science and Technology and Science and Engineering Infrastructure to be merged with National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation and the Project Development Institute,ā she said.
The Special Adviser further revealed that the National Biotechnology Development Agency will be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology.
She said the National Institute for Leather Science Technology will be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology;
Bala-Usman said the Nomadic Education Commission will be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-Formal Education.
She said the Nigerian Army University will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as a faculty within the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Similarly, the Air Force Institute of Technology also will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as the faculty of Nigerian Defence Academy.
On the agencies to be subsumed, Bala-Usman said the Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) come to be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau of Public Service Reform.
She said the Border Communities Development Agency will be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission.
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āāThe National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission while the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs;
āThe Public Complaints Commission to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission while the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research.
āāThe National Medicine Development Agency to be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development while the National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the Nigerian Pension Commission,ā she said.
On the agencies to be relocated, the Presidentās aide said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company to be relocated to the Ministry of Power while the National Agricultural Land Development Agency to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
She said the National Blood Service Commission will be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health while the Nigerian Diaspora Commission to be converted into an agency and to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Bala-Usman said the President had constituted a committee that would work within a 12-week period to ensure that the necessary restructuring and legislative amendments needed to ensure full actualisation of these approvals was granted.