The Federal Government has confirmed that the Steve Oronsaye report, aimed at reducing the size and cost of government, has yet to be implemented.
Femi Gbajabiamila, President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, confirmed this on Tuesday, saying he could not provide an exact timeline for implementation.
“Oronsaye’s report is being worked upon. Yes, we’ve been talking about this for months now, but anything worth doing is worth doing properly,” Gbajabiamila said. “It is not as easy as it sounds. A committee has been set up looking at it, and I am sure very soon, the final report will be out, and implementation will begin.”
The Oronsaye report, formally titled “Cost of Governance: Adjusting the Structures,” was commissioned by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011. 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.
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Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga had announced that the implementation means that “many agencies will be scrapped and many others will be merged to a leaner government.” However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, assured Nigerians that the implementation of the Oronsaye Report will not lead to job losses.
“The whole idea is that government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery. It does not mean that government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market,” Idris said.
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