Government has finally accepted recommendations of the PresidentialCommittee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Governmentparastatals, commissions and agencies led by former Head of the Civil Serviceof the Federation, Steven Oronsaye that 220 out of the 541 federal agencies should be scrapped.
The review committee on the draft White Paper chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan also accepted the retention of other 321 parastatals.
Daily Independent gathered on Monday that after three weeks of consideration of the Oronsaye report, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 26 took a decision on it.
The Federal Government had in late 2011 set up the committee headed by Oronsaye to restructure and rationalise parastatals, commissions and agencies of the government as part of measures to reduce the rising budgetprofile.
A White Paper Committee was thereafter established to look at the recommendations of the Presidential Committee.
Prominent among the agencies to be abolished are the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), National Poverty Eradication programme (NAPEP), National Economic IntelligenceCommittee (NEIC), Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), and Utilities Charges Commission (UCC).
While upholding the continued existence of the Police Service Commission (PSC), the government in its report, directed that the law establishing the PSC should be amended to make the Minister of Police Affairs to head the Commission.
It also directed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate necessary action for the abolition of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, saying the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) was already empowered by the Constitution to carry out the functions of the FRC.
The government approved the fusion of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) into one anti-corruption agency.
It, therefore, directed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate necessary action in respect of the proposed merger.
For the BPE, government has directed that a “Sunset Clause” should be introduced to the agency to conclude its assignment and wound down.
It also instructed that the NIPC currently domiciled in The Presidency be relocated to the Ministry of Trade and Investment and be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to synergise for management and utilisation of resources.
Government equally directed the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) to take over from the Public Complaints Commission (PCC).
It further directed that the PCC Act be removed from the Constitution by amending Sections 153 and 315.
The Oronsaye recommendation that the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) be abolished was upheld, as government directed the RMAFC to take over its functions.
Also in line with the report, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is to be restructured with a view to developing a framework to cover critical areas of national socio-economic development to which corps members would be deployed for their primary assignments.
Government has also directed that the enabling law of the Nigeria FootballFederation/Nigeria Football Association be amended to reflect the directive of FIFA that the organisation should be named a Federation.
The scrapping of NAPEP was accepted by government, as it directed that its functions should be merged with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
Government also approved the redeployment of all staff of the Utilities Charges Commission to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation “provided they are civil servants.”
Both the Council for Registered Engineers (COREN) and Surveyors Registration Council (SRC) would no longer receive budgetary allocations with effect from 2015 fiscal year, as recommended by the Oronsayecommittee.
Government has also directed that the withdrawal of the military from the Contributory Pension Scheme be reversed.
While the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the Federal Highway Department of Federal Ministry of Works are to be transformed into an extra-ministerial department, government rejected the report that the Act setting up the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should be repealed.
It also rejected another recommendation that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) be merged with the National Refugees Commission into one agency to be known as the National Emergency Management and Refugees Commission.
However, government accepted the recommendation for a proper investigation of the allegations made by the National Boundaries Commission (NBC) against the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federationover the funding of two non-existent boundary demarcations as well as the alleged illegal extension of Nigeria’s maritime boundary from 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles at the cost of $12 million without consulting the NBC.
It also directed the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to relocate to the Presidency with its own line budget and be strengthened.
Culled: DI
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