President Bola Tinubu has resolved to implement the Stephen Oronsaye report that called for a leaner government by merging some agencies and scrapping some others.
Implementing the Oronsaye report, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the merging, scrapping, and subsuming of some ministries, departments, and government agencies in line with its policy of reducing the cost of governance.
Hajiya Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, made this known at the end of the second FEC meeting of the year.
She said that the decision was based on the Steve Oronsaye Report on Civil Service, inaugurated under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2014.
For agencies that would undergo a merger, Bala-Usman said the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria is to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria, while the National Commission for Museums and Monuments is to be merged with the National Gallery of Acts.
She said the National Theatre is to be merged with the National Troupe of Nigeria, while the National Meteorological Development Centre is to be merged with the National Meteorological Training Institute.
The National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) is to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health while the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is to be merged with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.
‘’The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa will be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid and function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to be merged with Bureau for Public Enterprises. The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission is to be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, while the National Agency for Science and Technology and Science and Engineering Infrastructure are to be merged with the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation and the Project Development Institute,” she said.
The Special Adviser further revealed that the National Biotechnology Development Agency will be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology.
She said the National Institute for Leather Science Technology will be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology.
Bala-Usman said the Nomadic Education Commission will be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education, and Non-formal Education.
She said the Nigerian Army University will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as a faculty within the Nigerian Defence Academy. Similarly, the Air Force Institute of Technology will also be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as the faculty of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
On the agencies to be subsumed, Bala-Usman said the Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) came to be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau of Public Service Reform.
She said the Border Communities Development Agency will be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission.
“The National Salaries Income and Wages Commission is to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, while the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution is to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs; the Public Complaints Commission is to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission while the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis is to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research.
’The National Medicine Development Agency is to be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, while the National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission is to be subsumed under the Nigerian Pension Commission,” she said.
On the agencies to be relocated, the President’s aide said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company would be relocated to the Ministry of Power, while the National Agricultural Land Development Agency would be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
She said the National Blood Service Commission will be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health, while the Nigerian Diaspora Commission will be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Bala-Usman said the President had constituted a committee that would work within 12 weeks to ensure that the necessary restructuring and legislative amendments needed to ensure full actualization of these approvals were granted.
