ICRC, BPE merged, PTAD scrapped — all agencies affected in Oronsaye report

On August 18, 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a seven-member committee on the restructuring of federal government parastatals and agencies.

Stephen Oronsaye, a former head of the civil service of the federation, was appointed as the chairman of the committee, while Umar Mohammed was the secretary.

Other members were Japh Nwosu, Rabiu Abubakar, Salman Mann, Hamza Tahir, and Adetunji Adesunkanmi.

The committee was mandated to “study and review all previous reports/records on the restructuring of federal government parastatals, advise on whether they are still relevant, and examine the enabling acts of all the federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions and classify them into various sectors”.

The panel was also expected to “examine critically the mandates of the existing federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions, determine areas of overlap or duplication of functions, and make appropriate recommendations to either restructure, merge, or scrap to eliminate such overlaps, duplications, or redundancies and advise the federal government”.

The committee based its review on the 541 bodies that existed as parastatals, commissions, and agencies. After submitting its findings, the federal government established a panel on the white paper for the report.

The Oronsaye report was submitted in 2012 while in 2014, the government released a white paper on the findings.

The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari after re-examining the white paper also released a second white paper in August 2022 but did not implement the report.

PARASTALS, AGENCIES AND COMMISSIONS AFFECTED

At the end of the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, it was resolved that the Oronsaye report should be implemented to “enhance efficiency in the federal service, and reduce the cost of governance”.

The council inaugurated an eight-man committee that has a 12-week deadline to ensure that the necessary legislative amendments and administrative restructuring needed to implement the reforms are effected efficiently.

The committee comprises the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF); head of the civil service; attorney general of the federation and minister of justice; minister of budget and national planning; director-general of the bureau of public service reform; special adviser to the president on policy coordination and special assistant to the president on national assembly. The cabinet affairs office will serve as the secretariat.

Below is the list of parastatals, agencies and commissions that are affected by the implementation of the Oronsaye report.

• The National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) is to be subsumed under the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). The National Assembly will need to amend the constitution as RMAFC was established by the constitution.
• Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission  (ICRC) to be merged with the Bureau of Public Enterprise and be renamed as Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission.
• The National Human Rights Commission should be merged with the Public Complaints Commission.
• The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is to be scrapped and its functions will be taken over by the federal ministry of finance.
• The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Commission for Refugees to be fused to become the National Emergency and Refugee Management Commission.
• The Border Communities Development Agency to become a department under the National Boundary Commission.
• The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are to be merged.
• SERVICOM is to become a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform (BPSR).
• The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to return to the ministry of agriculture and food security.
• The federal ministry of science will supervise a new agency that combines the National Centre For Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Projects Development Institute (PRODA).
• National Commission for Museums and Monuments and National Gallery of Arts to become one entity that will be known as the National Commission for Museums, Monuments and Gallery of Arts.
• National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe.
• The  Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and the Directorate of Technical Aid Corp are to be merged under the ministry of foreign affairs.
• The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to become an agency under the ministry of foreign affairs.
• Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Voice of Nigeria (VON) are to become one entity to be known as Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (FBCN).
• National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology are to be merged into an agency to be known as the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA).
• The National Institute for Leather Science Technology and the National Institute for Chemical Technology are to become one agency.
• Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development to become one agency.
• The National Metallurgical Development Centre and National Metallurgical Training Institute will be merged.
• National Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed under the Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.