Reps Urge Review Of Oronsaye Report Before Implementation

House of Representatives has called on the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to comprehensively review the 2012 Oronsaye Report and all other related reports and white papers before implementation.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance jointly moved at the plenary yesterday by Hon. Kama Nkemkanma, Hon. Olumide Osoba and Hon. Jonathan Gbefwi.

Moving the motion, Nkemkanma recalled that in 2012, the Jonathan administration set up the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, headed by Stephen Oronsaye, a former Head of Service of the Federation.

The lawmaker said the Oronsaye Committee, after their painstaking assignment, recommended the scrapping and merging of 220 out of the then existing 541 government agencies.

He said 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/councils.

Nkemkanma said the Oronsaye Report revealed then that if the committee’s recommendation was implemented, the government would be saving over N862 billion between 2012 and 2015.

He expressed concern that contrary to the assumption that the full implementation of the report would reduce cost of governance, with the current realities, the full implementation of the report would not substantially reduce the cost of governance as it does not reflect the current situation in the public service of the federation.

“Deeply worried that the full implementation of 2012 Oronsaye report in 2024 will certainly throw up unintended consequences, implications and outcomes,” Nkemkanma said.

The House upon the adoption of the motion constituted an Ad-hoc Committee chaired by the Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere to look into the matter.

Also at plenary, the House urged President Tinubu to give effect to the provisions of Section 2 (1) of the NIDCOM Establishment Act, 2017 by constituting the Board of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).

It further urged the President to inaugurate the Board after their confirmation and charge it to immediately address the numerous challenges facing Nigerians in the Diaspora.

These House decisions followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Tochukwu Chinedu Okere who noted that that Section 2(1) of the Nigerians in Diaspora Establishment Act, 2017 states that there shall be a Governing Board for the Commission, which will be responsible for its general administration.

He also noted the genuine intent of President Muhammadu Buhari in signing the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission Act, 2017, in response to complaints Nigerians suffer in their host countries, resulting in a huge embarrassment to the image of Nigeria and its rating before the community of nations.

The lawmaker further noted that the NIDCOM provides for the engagement of Nigerians in the Diaspora in the policies, projects, and participation in the development of Nigeria.

He expressed worry that if the Board is not constituted immediately, the capacity of NIDCOM to address the challenges of Nigerians in the diaspora will worsen and that would present Nigeria from a negative perspective as a country that does not care for the welfare of its citizens, thus undermining the establishment of the Commission.