President Bola Tinubu's decision to continue making appointments to agencies recommended for scrapping, merging, or being subsumed into others by the Steve Oronsaye Report has stirred significant controversy.
The Akume committee, tasked with implementing the recommendations, was given 12 weeks starting from February to execute the reforms to reduce the cost of governance.
However, nearly six months later, the president's actions suggest a reluctance to follow through with these reforms. His continued appointments raise questions about his genuine commitment to reducing the size of government and cutting down expenses, as he had promised.
Experts have voiced concerns over the president's motives, and suggest that the appointments to the affected ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) may be a political reward rather than steps toward administrative efficiency.
The Orosanye report recommended merging, scrapping, and relocating various government agencies as a pragmatic approach to addressing Nigeria's wasteful and bloated bureaucracy, which is ineffective and duplicative in nature.
The planned implementation of the Orosanye report was the president's quest for a populist policy to legitimise his government.
In different interactions with this newspaper, the experts said the continued appointment of chief executive officers (CEOs) into the affected agencies, despite the clear mandate to streamline government operations, indicates a potential prioritisation of political patronage over fiscal responsibility.
Critics argue that this approach undermines the goals of the Orosanye report and perpetuates the inefficiencies and bloated structures within the government.
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This development exposes a troubling inconsistency in President Tinubu's promises and actions. By failing to implement the recommended reforms, the president is seen as reneging on his commitment to cut the cost of governance and trim bloated government institutions.
Professor of political science at Lagos State University, Odion Akhaine, said this raises doubts about the president's sincerity in pursuing administrative effectiveness and fuels public scepticism about the government's ability to bring about meaningful change.
Despite the obvious lack of political will to enforce the recommendations, the government said "there is no going back" on its implementation, but failed to say when that would be done.
A top government official had informed this reporter that there had been intense pushback from the heads of the affected MDAs to stop, frustrate or suspend the implementation of the report, with intense lobbying of federal lawmakers and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) which serves as the secretariat of the implementation committee. The official who does not want his name mentioned said the lobbying became more palpable with the delivery of notices to the heads of the affected agencies.
"The president seems to have eroded the confidence in him at his resumption of office. Everything the president has done appears to be a kneejerk approach in terms of dealing with state policies.
"The continuous appointment of CEOs into the agencies that are already up for a scrap, merger and subsuming is a complete negation of the policy to trim down the government institutions for efficiency and reduction in the cost of governance," said Professor Akhaine
A professor of political science at the University of Benin who pleaded anonymity said the president is only succumbing to politics.
"He was elected from a particular political party. He needs to give jobs to the boys," he stated, adding that the president may have decided to delay the implementation of the report till after 2027 general elections to avoid offending his allies with political clout.
However, the professor believes that the agencies already pencilled down should be left untouched. Instead, they should be enhanced to effectively deliver on their mandates while also ensuring their bloated expenses are significantly reduced.
Dr Uchenna Samuel Ezeako of the Federal University of Dutsinma, Katsina State, said the continuous appointment of people into agencies that should be merged or scrapped exposes the fact that the president is not committed to the idea of cutting the cost of governance.
"It doesn't show any seriousness at all. Look at what is happening in the country: high cost of living, high cost of running the government, and all that. Instead of sticking to your pronouncement, you are over-bloating the government and making things more difficult for the citizens. The citizens are suffering. The government is not interested in ending the suffering of the citizens. Do you take the government seriously? Of course, there is no way you can take them seriously.
"All these things are geared towards 2027; they have started strategising for 2027; settling people politically, giving them political appointments - his foot soldiers, people who will be there to battle for him and do his bidding. He is not interested in improving the lives of the common man in Nigeria. It is a terrible situation.
"I agree that the president is lying on his professed determination to ensure the implementation of Steve Orosanye's report. He is completely deceiving Nigerians because there is no evidence to show that he wants to implement it," Ezeako stated.
Some analysts say the president is simply delaying the implementation of the report to reward those who worked for his emergence during his campaigns for office. They, however, say it is wrong for the president to wrong the country that way.
According to them, President Tinubu has to urgently roll back his sleeves and revitalise every segment of the country as if there is no tomorrow.
They all agreed that the president does not need to defer the problems of the moment to another generation.
Many analysts blame the president's dillydally on a lack of a deliberate intention to reduce the institutions of government for effectiveness.
"Where there is intentionality, the appointment of new people into those agencies will wait until the implementation of the Orosanye report is concluded. In every agency or ministry, there are always those who can act in an official capacity. It is high time the government became serious in terms of purposeful implementation of policies. Otherwise, it would be musical chairs between now and 2027," Akhaine said.
Some experts say the time the SGF panel was given to implement the report was too short for it to re-organise the MDAs.
As the situation unfolds, whether the president will address these concerns and align his actions with his stated goals remains to be seen.
The agencies to be scrapped include Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate and National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC). The President renewed the appointment of the executive secretary of PTAD last year amidst calls for the implementation of the report.
The agencies to include National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) to be merged under the Centre for Disease Control in Federal Ministry of Health; National Emergency Agency (NEMA) to be merged with National Commission; Refugee, Migration and Internally Displaced Persons; Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA); Directorate of Technical Aid (DTAC) Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to be merged with Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) is 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 Mechanisation (NCAM) and Project Development Institute (PRODA); National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) to be merged with National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB); National Institute for Leather Science Technology (NILEST) to be merged with
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National Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT); Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) to be merged with National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-Formal Education.
The Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) to be merged with Voice of Nigeria (VON); National Commission for Museums and Monuments to be merged with National gallery of Arts; National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe of Nigeria; National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) to be merged with National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI); Nigerian Army University (NAUB)should be merged Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA); Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT) to be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Agencies to be subsumed are: Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) to be subsumed as a department under Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR); Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to be subsumed as a department under the National Boundary Commission (NBC); National Salaries, Income and Wages Commissioned (NSIWC) to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation & Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC); Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to be subsumed under National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
If the recommendation of the Orosanye report is adopted, Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (NITR) would be subsumed under the Institute of Veterinary Research (VOM); Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) 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), with the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) subsumed as a department in the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.
