In a decisive move aimed at streamlining government operations and reducing the cost of governance, President Bola Tinubu has ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.

This directive, announced by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, signals significant changes in the structure of various government agencies.

Idris announced to State House Correspondents after Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting: “in a very bold move today, this administration, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, consistent again with his courage to take very far-reaching decisions in the interest of Nigeria, has taken a decision to implement the so-called Oronsaye Report.”

He further explained, “Now, what that means is that a number of agencies, commissions, and some departments have actually been scrapped. Some have been modified and marked while others have been subsumed. Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries to others where the government feels they will operate better.”

The implementation involves merging, subsuming, scrapping, and relocating several government agencies, as outlined by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Mrs. Hadiza Bala-Usman. A committee has been constituted by the President to oversee these changes within 12 weeks.

Submitted in 2012, the Oronsaye report on public sector reforms identified 541 statutory and non-statutory Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies to be slashed or submused. The 800-page report recommended significant restructuring, including slashing the number of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments within ministries.

Among the recommendations is the repeal of the law establishing the National Salaries and Wages Commission, with its functions to be absorbed by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Responsibility Commission. Additionally, the report proposes merging Nigeria’s top three anti-corruption agencies—the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and the Code of Conduct Bureau.

It is estimated that the Nigerian Government could save over N241 billion if the report is fully implemented.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, said that the measure aims to enhance efficiency in the federal service and reduce the cost of governance.

“An eight-man committee 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,” Onanuga stated.

The committee comprises key government officials, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service, the Attorney General and Justice Minister, the Budget and Planning Minister, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, and the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.

Below is the list of ministries and agencies affected by the reform according to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz.

AGENCIES TO BE SCRAPPED

1. Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate to be scrapped and functions transferred to the Federal Ministry of Finance
2. The National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) is to be scrapped and functions transferred to the Department of Basic and Secondary Education in the Federal Ministry of Education.

AGENCIES TO BE MERGED

1. National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) to be merged under the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health.

2. The National Emergency Agency (NEMA) is to be merged with the National Commission of Refugee, Migration, and Internally Displaced Persons [NCFRMI].

3. The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) is to be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid (DTAC) and to function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

4. Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to be merged with the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE).

5. The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) is to be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

6. The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is to be merged with the National Centre for Agriculture Mechanization (NCAM) and Project Development Institute (PRODA)

7. The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) is to be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB).

8. The National Institute for Leather Science Technology (NILEST) is to be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT).

9. The Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) is to be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education, and Non-Formal Education.

10. Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) to be merged with Voice of Nigeria (VON)

11. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments to be merged with the National Gallery of Arts.

12. The National Theatre to be merged with the National Troupe of Nigeria.

13. The National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) is to be merged with the National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI).

14. Nigerian Army University (NAUB)should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA)

15. The Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT) should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA)

AGENCIES TO BE SUBSUMED

1. Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) to be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR).

2. Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission (NBC).

3. National Salaries, Income, and Wages Commissioned (NSIWC) to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilization & Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC).

4. Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA)

5. Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

6. Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (NITR) to be subsumed into the Institute of Veterinary Research (VOM).

7. Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) to be subsumed under the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD).

8. National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the administration of the Nigerian Pension Commission (PenCom).

9. The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) is to be subsumed as a department in the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

AGENCIES TO BE RELOCATED

1. Niger Delta Powerholding Company (NDHC) to be relocated to the Ministry of Power.

2. National Agricultural Land Development Agency [NALDA] to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

3. National Blood Service Commission to be converted into an Agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health

4. Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to be converted into an Agency and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is approaching the Naira FX paralysis as a distribution-related problem instead of a typical demand-supply problem. Their playbook is the reason I do not think it will fix this problem in the short-term. The structural asymmetric imbalance between Demand and Supply for USD in Nigeria remains, and provided that is the case, the channels’ impacts will be muted. 

Even if you ban banks, BDCs, Binance, etc on distribution of FX, the Naira will still lose value because Demand outweighs Supply of USD. And provided we do not have substitutes for those foreign products which trigger the high Demand for USD, restricting “inelastic foreign products” with no local substitutes via channel suppression has NEVER worked in classical economics.

The CBN’s approach can only work if we go Keynesian (using government resources to reshape pricing equilibrium) but that cannot happen because we do not have the funds. So, if we look at all these things, it comes down to my village boy suggestion in June 2023 when I warned: “Nigeria’s floating of its currency, while progressive, will cause severe perturbations in the economy – and a stable state may not come as most experts have predicted”.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is approaching the Naira FX paralysis as a distribution-related problem instead of a typical demand-supply problem. Their playbook is the reason I do not think it will fix this problem in the short-term. The structural asymmetric imbalance… pic.twitter.com/DMTR3KAAoE

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) February 27, 2024

This is to note that giving BDCs $20,000 daily means nothing for a big economy like Nigeria. We need to focus on improving Supply of USD by going back to manufacturing-first economic policy, over our finance-driven and finance-first economy policy which began when IBB introduced SAP in late 1980s, and flooded Nigeria with finance Houses and new banks, even as our factories faded.