Oronsaye Report: List of Affected Agencies and Commissions If The Recommendations Are Fully Implemented

Highlight of the Oronsaye report and recommendations

• 38 agencies to be scrapped
• 50 agencies have no enabling laws, but they get allocations from the federal government
• 14 agencies to be reverted to departments under Federal Ministries
• 52 institutions or agencies to be merged
• 929 MDAs currently under the Federal budgeting structure

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) led by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, February 26, 2024, directed that the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye panel on the restructuring and rationalization of Federal agencies, parastatals and commissions should be fully implemented.

The panel was set up by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to enhance efficiency in the Federal service and reduce the cost of governance. It recommended merging, subsuming and scrapping agencies with overlap functions.

Since the submission of the report, a timeline of the Oronsaye panel report shows that close to a dozen committees have been set up to see how it can be implemented. Even when a committee was inaugurated to implement the recommendations, they ignored them, maybe for political consequences.

According to the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission should be subsumed under the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

Here is the full list of agencies that would be affected if the Oronsaye report is fully implemented:

Agencies to be scrapped

38 agencies will be abolished. Some of them include:

1. Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate to be scrapped and functions transferred to the Federal Ministry of Finance
2. National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) to be scrapped and functions transferred to the Department of Basic and Secondary Education in the Federal Ministry of Education.
3. National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP)
4. Utilities Charges Commission (UCC)
5. National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC)

Agencies to be merged

• National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) to be merged under the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health.
• National Emergency Agency (NEMA) to be merged with National Commission Refugee, Migration and Internally Displaced Persons [NCFRMI].
• Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) to be merged with Directorate of Technical Aid (DTAC) and to function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to be merged with Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE).
• Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) to be merged with Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
• National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to be merged with National Centre for Agriculture Mechanization (NCAM) and Project Development Institute (PRODA)
• National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) to be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB)
• National Institute for Leather Science Technology (NILEST) is to be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT)
• The Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) is to be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-Formal Education
• Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) to be merged with Voice of Nigeria (VON)
• The National Commission for Museums and Monuments to be merged with National gallery of Arts
• The National Theatre is to be merged with the National Troupe of Nigeria
• The National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) is to be merged with the National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI)
• Nigerian Army University (NAUB) should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA)
• Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT) should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA)

Agencies to be subsumed

Similarly, some agencies would be reverted as departments under existing agencies and Ministries. They include:

• Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) to be subsumed to function as a department under Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR)
• Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission (NBC)
• National Salaries, Income and Wages Commissioned (NSIWC) to be subsumed into Revenue Mobilization & Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC)
• Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA)
• Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to be subsumed under National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
• Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (NITR) to be subsumed into the Institute of Veterinary Research (VOM)
• Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) to be subsumed under the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD)
• National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the administration of Nigerian Pension Commission (PenCom)
• The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to be subsumed as a department in the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy

Agencies to be relocated 

The Oronsaye Report also recommended that some agencies should be relocated to another Federal Ministry for proper functioning. The agencies and Parastatals that will be relocated are:

• Niger Delta Powerholding Company (NDHC) to be relocated to Ministry of power
• National Agricultural Land Development Agency [NALDA] to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security
• National Blood Service Commission to be converted into an Agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health
• Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to be converted into an Agency and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Background 

Former President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the Presidential Committee on the Reformation of Government Agencies in 2011 and appointed the former Head of Service of the Federation. Steven Oronsaye as the chair. The White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Committee is ready for download here.

The Terms of Reference included examining the enabling Acts and mandates of all the federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions to determine areas of overlap or duplication of functions.

In its submission, the committee recommended that of the 541 Statutory and Non-Statutory Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions:

• 263 statutory agencies should be reduced to 161
• 38 agencies should be abolished
• 52 agencies should be merged, and
• 14 should revert to departments in ministries.

Since then, several white paper committees were set up by both Jonathan who initiated the panel and his successor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Both presidents set up implementation committees, but nothing was done about it until President Tinubu gave the go-ahead for the 8-man implementation committee to fully implement the recommendations of the report.

Would it be another media fanfare similar to his predecessors?

So how much would the government save just by merging other agencies?