CSOs call for implementation of Orosanye report of 2012

A coalition of civil society organisations has called for the immediate implementation of the Steve Orosanye report of 2012.

The group is rising stoutly against the continued creation of agencies by the National Assembly, particularly the recent one seeking to create an Almajiri school in the North.

Over the years in Nigeria, there have been sustained campaigns for cost-cutting measures in governance.

Particularly concerning is the duplication of functions and unhealthy rivalry between and among over 200 agencies created by Acts of the parliament.

In the heat of the agitations, the Jonathan administration set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies under the Chairmanship of Steve Oronsaye.

After some painstaking efforts, the Committee in April, 2012 submitted an 800-page report.

The report recommended the abolition and merger of 102 government agencies and parastatals.

More than ten years after, the Orosanye report remains on the shelf gathering dust.

A coalition says lack of synergy between the National Assembly and the Executive has continually undermined the implementation of the Orosanye report

The ongoing attempt by the House of Representatives to establish the Almajiri School gives the coalition cause for concern.

Ahead of the public hearing, these civil society groups say some agencies have been established to take care of the almajiri.

The groups called on the national assembly to be more pragmatic in meeting the united nations’ standards for funding of the education sector and not establish new agencies.

Governance in the face of dwindling economic fortunes may remain a mirage or at best, mere platitudes, going by feelers from the seat of power in Abuja and its corridors across the country.

Following unsuccessful attempts by successive administrations to reduce the number of federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as a cost-cutting measure, former President Goodluck Jonathan, 2011, set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the chairmanship of Steve Oronsaye.

The committee also recommended, among other things, the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils. The measures were, primarily, free funds for the much-needed capital projects across the country.

Oronsaye’s report was greeted with mixed feelings as the sack was imminent, but many felt that in spite of the implications on agencies and individuals that might be affected by the exercise (if implemented), the civil service would be strengthened and made more productive.

Following the submission of the White Paper on the report in March 2014, an Implementation Committee was set up two months later. Eight years down the lane, the government, rather than reduce, harmonise or merge some agencies as recommended in the report, has gone ahead to establish more agencies.

Ten years on, there has been a lull in the actions toward implementing the recommendations of the report.