By Uche Mbah
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of the Oronsaye report, which was submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration before he stepped aside.
A former Head of Civil Service, Stephen Oronsaye headed a committee set up by former President Jonathan to correct inadequacies in the Civil service.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in an interview on Channels Television.
“The president has approved that this administration should implement the Oronsaye report”, she said.
“It has reviewed the whole of the size of government and has made very significant recommendations in terms of reducing the number of agencies and that would mean merging some agencies.
“This is a report that has been in place for a long time and there hasn’t been implementation but the president has approved that this should be implemented and we have conveyed Mr. President’s approval to the arms of government that are responsible for this and that will be the office of the secretary of government and the head of the civil service of the federation.”
Part of the report indicates the merger of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, and Nigerian meteorological services, NIMET. Stakeholders, are, however, not comfortable with the merger. Supo Atobatele, the former spokesperson for NAMA, called it a “misadventure.
“Merging NAMA, NIMET With NCAA To Form FCAA Is A Misadventure”, he said.
“The white paper on Orasonye’s Presidential Committee on restructuring and rationalization of FG parastatals, commissions and agencies released during the week, has confirmed early speculation on a possible merger of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) to form Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA).
“This is a wrong decision and against the global trend of separating industry service providers from the regulator.
“FG acceptance to merge NAMA especially with NCAA, is an invitation to chaos and anarchy.
“The fusion of the two under the aegis of the new FCAA means it will provide air traffic services, install and calibrate equipment, license its personnel and at the same time perform the oversight function for its own services.
“This is abnormal and it can’t stand the test of time. The scenario here, is like asking a sick patient to diagnose himself, determine the intensity of ailments, recommend drugs, and discharge himself. I hope we are not going back to the era when planes were dropping from the skies.”
