QUESTION: Where is FG committee’s recommendation on Oronsaye report?

Twenty-two weeks since the federal government set up a 10-member committee on implementing the Oronsaye report, there has been silence.

On February 26, President Bola Tinubu directed the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.⁣

Mohammed Idris, minister of information, who announced the development to journalists, said several agencies would be eliminated; others would be merged or restructured to cut governance costs.

THE ORONSAYE REPORT

In 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan constituted the Stephen Oronsaye-led panel to identify inadequacies in the nation’s civil service.

In 2012, the committee submitted an 800-page report and recommended the scrapping and merging of 102 government agencies and parastatals.

The committee on the white paper for the report submitted its findings in 2014.

Since then, several committees and sub-committees have been established to implement the recommendations.

In November 2021, the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated two sub-committees chaired by ex-heads of service of the federation — Bukar Aji, Amal Pepple and Oladapo Afolabi – on the implementation of the report.

In July 2022, the federal government inaugurated a white paper committee to review ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) created since 2014. Yet, the report was still not implemented. 

TINUBU’S COMMITTEE 

On March 7, George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), on behalf of the president, set up a 10-member committee to review the current mandates of the affected ministries “to understand the existing functions, responsibilities, and objectives outlined in the mandates of the agencies, as well as identify redundancies and overlaps or conflicting objectives among the mandates of the different organisational units”.

Members of the committee include Akume, Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation; Abubakar Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning; and Usman Hadiza Bala, special adviser to the president on policy and coordination. 

Others are Dasuki Arabi, director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reform; Abdullahi Gumel, senior special assistant to the president on national assembly matters (senate); Ibrahim Olarewaju, senior special assistant to the president on national assembly matters (house of representatives); Muri Okunola, principal secretary to the president; Richard Pheelangwah, permanent secretary, cabinet affairs office; and Folashade Yemi Esan, the out-going head of civil service of the federation.

The committee was given a 12-week deadline to submit its recommendations.

June 7 was exactly 12 weeks since the committee was constituted.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONTINUES TO PASS ESTABLISHMENT BILLS

Despite moves to implement the report, the senate and house of representatives have been busy considering and passing bills to create new agencies and commissions.

The house of representatives special ad hoc committee on restructuring of government agencies said the national assembly cannot stop its legislative functions because the federal government is planning to implement Oronsaye report.

“As we are talking about scrapping and merging agencies, the national assembly is still making many establishment bills and passing them into an Act of the parliament. The work of the legislature is an ongoing process,” Ibrahim Isiaka, chairman of the committee, said.

“We cannot stop the engine of the country from moving because we are reviewing activities of the past. The world is not even waiting for anyone. As the world evolves, we are moving along that same line. So, because of that, you are not going to say we should stop the function of the national assembly from establishing any new commission or agencies so far it is in tandem with the position of the government of the day.”

WHERE IS THE COMMITTEE’S REPORT? 

There has been no official word from the federal government on the committee’s findings or recommendations.

When contacted on Monday, Segun Imohiosen, director of information & public relations at the office of the SGF, said implementation of the Oronsaye report is already ongoing. 

“What I know so far so good is that implementation is already ongoing. There are already mergers,” he said.

TheCable informed Imohiosen that the committee should have submitted its report before implementation began. In response, Imohiosen said he would need to get an update from the permanent secretary for capital affairs, a key player in the committee.

“That is the person who can give me the information I need,” he said.