President Bola Tinubu’s recent approval to implement the long-delayed Oronsaye Report is a bold and much-needed move towards streamlining Nigeria’s bloated bureaucracy.
The minister of information, Mohammed Idris announced the move after the federal executive council meeting on Monday.
This decision demonstrates the administration’s commitment to reforming governance and building an efficient public service apparatus.
The Oronsaye Report, submitted in 2012, recommended rationalizing government agencies by merging, scrapping or relocating various commissions and parastatals.
It aimed to eliminate duplication, reduce waste, improve coordination and service delivery.
However, successive governments dithered and failed to act on this crucial blueprint.
In the decade since the report’s submission, the problem it sought to address worsened, as more agencies mushroomed, rather than reduced.
This exacerbated inefficiencies, encouraged waste of scarce resources and impeded effective policy implementation across board.
Against this backdrop, President Tinubu has shown courage and foresight by finally approving this seminal report, long sought by many Nigerians.
This move aligns with his vision of instituting far-reaching reforms to benefit citizens.
Specifically, the implementation will scrap redundant agencies, merge those with overlapping functions and relocate others where they fit better. Notably, agencies like the National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will be merged into larger establishments. Others like the Nomadic Education Commission will be fused into relevant bigger commissions.
Equally important, some agencies like the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission will be subsumed under better-suited parent agencies like the Revenue Mobilisation, Fiscal and Allocation Commission. This will prevent needless duplication and waste.
The restructuring will further relocate agencies to strategically appropriate ministries. For instance, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company now correctly moves to the Power Ministry, while the Diaspora Commission goes to the Finance Ministry. These moves align with their core competencies.
Overall, the approved reorganisation will eliminate superfluous bureaucracies, enhance efficiency in service delivery, and promote better utilisation of resources.
It will improve inter-agency coordination, information sharing and monitoring. This will boost policy implementation and service to citizens.
The minister of information and national orientation,also allayed fears that jobs will not be lost . But experts have posited that there is no way mergers and scraps of agencies will take place without job losses .
Maybe the minister was trying to buy time with organized labour who are not too keen on the implementation of the Orasanye report .
Pointedly , experts some push lacks from vented interests in the coming days who will do anything to sabotage the implementation of the report . Expect to see sponsored articles and posts on the demerits of scrapping or merging agencies .
I expect the president to muster the political will to see this to the end .
However, successful implementation requires diligent execution and monitoring. In this regard, President Tinubu’s establishment of a committee to oversee this process, address legislative changes and deliver results in 12 weeks, is commendable.
With competent leadership and members drawn from key ministries and the presidency, the committee can execute this crucial assignment speedily. It can break any bottlenecks and deliver within the short timeline. Prompt action before bureaucracy stalls this initiative is key.
President Tinubu’s approval and accelerated implementation of this vital report is exemplary. It demonstrates political will to institute genuine reforms and reposition the public service to work better for Nigerians. This pragmatic move deserves praise as a step in the right direction. It sends the right signals that this government is ready to walk the talk on reforms.
