The Nigerian Government may soon carry out a comprehensive overhaul of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) as recommended by the Mr. Stephen Oronsanya led Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies as members of the committee met with President Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday, in Abuja.
The Committee, which was inaugurated on August 18, 2011, recommended that the existing 541 MDAs, including 263 statutory agencies be reduced to 163.
Among the agencies recommended for outright scrapping are the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC).
The implementation of the committee’s report is set to pave the way for the eventual restructuring of the affected MDAs and cut down government wastages.
President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday met with members of the White Paper drafting Committee, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, a move aimed at fast tracking government’s decision on the implementation exercise.
A top presidential aide told FrontiersNews, that Mr. Jonathan is waiting for a final decision to be taken by the White Paper Committee before embarking on any change at the ministerial, department and agency level.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke heads the white paper drafting committee.
Other members of the committee are Minister of Land and Housing, Ms. Ama Pepple; Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Bello Sali; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu and Minister Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson.
The committee also has the Minister of National Planning Mr. Shamsudeen Usman; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mrs. A. J. Awosika; Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Emeka Eze; Senior Special Assistant (Economic Matters), Office of Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Ochi Achinivu and Permanent Secretary (General Services Office), Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Femi Olayisade.
The Committee has the following terms of reference:
i) to study and review all previous reports/records on the restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals and advise on whether they are still relevant.
ii) to examine the enabling Acts of all the Federal Agencies, Parastatals and Commissions and classify them into various sectors.
iii) to examine critically, the mandates of the existing Federal Agencies, Parastatals and Commissions and determine areas of overlap or duplication of functions and make appropriate recommendations to either restructure, merge or scrap to eliminate such overlaps, duplication or redundancies.
iv)to advise on any other matter(s) that is incidental to the foregoing which may be relevant to the desire of Government to prune the cost of governance.
