President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has received condemnation over his decision to now implement the Oransaye Report.
Recall that in 2011 former President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned a former Head of Service, Stephen Orosanye to look at how to make the government smaller, with a view to reducing the cost of governance, following complaints that Nigeria is ruining an over-bloated government.
On Monday, the federal government said it has now decided to implement the report, and has set up a committee for its implementation.
The development comes after a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar called on the administration to reduce the cost of governance.
The former vice president called on President Tinubu to emulate President Javier Milei of Argentina, economic reforms path.
Atiku said President Milei “came into the office with a comprehensive stabilization plan, which seeks to implement far-reaching measures within the context of a market-oriented economy.
“He started off cutting government expenditure by cutting the size of government and wastages; blocked stealing of government funds, and attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through concessions, tax holidays, and improved ease of doing business.
“President Milei flies regular business class for all his travels and does not offer the presidential fleet of Argentina for his son’s birthday.
“Likewise, there is no settlement for his hangers-on and political allies through unwieldy and burdensome appointments to public offices.
“Argentina’s Milei did not build the largest government like Tinubu did at a time when our economy was and still on its knees.”
The committee has been given 12 weeks to submit their report to President Tinubu, according to a statement released yesterday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
According to the minister, the president has directed the full implementation of the report, which may lead to the merging, subsuming, scraping and relocation of several agencies of government.
According to Idris who spoke to journalists after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, the president has directed the committee head by Hadiza-Bala Usman, the President’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination to submit the report withing three months.
The minister said, “So in a very bold move today, this administration, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, consistent again with his courage to take very far-reaching decisions in the interest of Nigeria, has taken a decision to implement the so-called Oronsaye Report.
“Now, what that means is that a number of agencies, commissions, and some departments have actually been scrapped. Some have been modified, and marked while others have been subsumed. Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries to others where the government feels they will operate better.”
Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians insist that the administration may have put the cart before the horse with his decision to now implement the 800-page report.
The report recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies be slashed to 161; 38 agencies be scrapped; 52 be merged and 14 be reverted to departments in various ministries.
For instance, those criticizing the president insist that this may have come too late after Tinubu has already appointed ministers and heads of government agencies and parastatals that would now be merged, compressed of scrapped.
Apart from this, the administration’s critics say the president should have thought about this decision before appointing many ministers into his cabinet.
President Tinubu has been thoroughly criticized for appointing the highest number of ministers since the country returned to participatory democracy in 1999.
Since he came to power on May 29 last year, President Tinubu has appointed at least 48 ministers into his cabinet, against complaints from Nigerians that doing so would further increase the cost of governance in the country.
With this, his critics insist that President Tinubu has broken the records, by far, set by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar-adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari.
“From all indications, some of these ministers are likely to be sacked or made junior ministers if the administration goes ahead with the implementation of the Oransaye report. What this means is that we are sending a bad signals to the world that we don’t know what we are doing as a country,” one analyst who insist that his name should not be mentioned, said on Tuesday.
Apart from the global perception the world now has on the unseriousness of the country, the source stated that the government, as usual, may not have considered the consequences of implementing the report.
“There is now that these agencies, ministries, parastatals would be merged, scrapped, subsumed without attendant job losses. Has the government considered this already, or they are embarking on another roadshow that is likely to lead to nowhere.”
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