Oronsaye Report: C’ttee Wants N’Assembly to Streamline Creation of New Parastatals, Agencies, Commissions

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The White Paper Drafting Committee on the Review of new Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions (PACs) that created following the Oronsaye Panel Report on the restructuring and rationalisation of federal government PACs has proposed an engagement and dialogue with the National Assembly to generate an understanding to streamline the creation of new agencies and commission.

The Chairman of the committee, Mrs. Ebele Okeke made the disclosure yesterday, when the committee presented the Draft White Paper on the review of new parastatals, agencies and commissions to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha.

Okeke, a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, said the recommendation was on the heel of the observation by the committee that most of the agencies that were created, especially under Ministries of Education and Health, were through bills that emanated from the National Assembly.

She noted that her committee similarly discovered that the legal framework and enabling Act of some of the PACs were ambiguous on their structure, management and oversight as most of the laws used agency, commission and board inter-changeably.  

“For instance, where the organisation is defined as a Commission, the provisions of the law did not support the structure of a Commission. In this regard, where the Committee recommended change in status/name, amendment of the Act/Law is also recommended, accordingly,” Ebele said.
She stated that during the committee’s deliberations, it sought and received the counsel of subject matter experts, including retired Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation, serving and retired Permanent Secretaries.

She described some of the recommendations as low hanging fruits that could be implemented immediately after approval of the White Paper.
The Committee stated that it considered the current economic challenges as well as the need for government to utilise resources more efficiently to reduce cost of governance and develop diverse sources of revenue in its report.

In his remarks, Mustapha described the report as a further demonstration of the federal government’s commitment to reposition the public service for effective service delivery.

The SGF said the high cost of governance and revenue challenges being experienced in the midst of competing societal demands were part of the concerns of the federal government, adding that everything necessary would be done to ensure that no sector was neglected.

He assured the committee and Nigerians that the Draft White Paper would be given all the necessary attention and that appropriate action will be taken on the various recommendations contained in the report.