President Bola Tinubu’s reported decision to trim down the number of Federal Government-funded agencies, in line with the Steven Oronsaye’s report, has received mixed reactions.
In 2014, the Jonathan government released a white paper on Orosaye’s report. The Buhari administration, after re-examining the white paper, also released a second white paper in August 2022, but did not implement the report.
Applauding the move, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), however, said Tinubu’s decision to implement the report by merging some of the agencies would not make any sense, if the bloated executive cabinet of the Federation constituted with about 48 ministers was not reduced to 36.
HURIWA expressed excitement at the implementation of the Oronsaye report, which recommended that several agencies of the government would be merged, subsumed, scrapped, and relocated.
It, however, advised that some agencies, such as Federal Road Safety Commission recommended for merger, should be left as they are so as not to create bureaucratic bottle necks.
HURIWA noted Tinubu’s cabinet surpassed each of his four predecessors of the Fourth Republic, which the group said had shown that his decision to trim down the number of agencies would not achieved much unless he reduced the size of his ministers to only 36.
THE applause came just as rights activist and former Kaduna Central senator in the defunct eight National Assembly, Shehu Sani, advised President Bola Tinubu to be cautious on the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.
Sani said that the President should be careful in the aspect where thousands of federal civil servants were likely to lose their jobs. While hailing the President on his directive, believing that it would cut the cost of governance and harmonise federal ministries, departments and agencies, Sani, in a post on his X account on Monday night, cautioned that job losses among thousands of federal civil servants were imminent.
Sani said: “The Oronsaye report has gathered dust for over a decade. It’s commendable that now it shall see the light of the day.”
ALSO, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Nwosu, has applauded President Tinubu on the decision to implement the Oronsaye report.
Nwosu, who is the President General, Ugwumba Leadership Centre for Africa Development, in a chat with reporters in Abuja, argued that the decision to restructure federal agencies, parastatals and commissions was in tandem with the quest to ensure good governance in the polity.
“That the President accepted the advice of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is indicative of a cerebral and decisive leadership poised to return Nigeria to the path of growth by cutting the cost of governance.
“I believe strongly that the President’s position would bring to an end the delay in activating the spirit of the document which was submitted in 2012 to the Jonathan administration.
“Next, I expect the eight-man committee, which has a 12-week deadline to ensure that the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms are effected in an efficient manner.”
