•Commercialization of River Basins
AFTER weeks of deliberations on the draft White Paper on the Presidential Committee on the Rationalization of Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday okayed the merger of some research institutes and centres with the existing universities.
Also, the Council took a decision to ensure full commercialization of all the River Basins spread across the country with a view to making them respond to government's new plans for agricultural revolution.
To achieve the objective,the Council has raised an ad-hoc committee under the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Samsudeen Usman with a view to advising the federal government on how efficiently the rationalization exercise could be carried. The committee has two-weeks to carry out its task
In taking the decision to merge the research centres and institutes, the government believes it would add values to their corporate existence, because it would boost the university-industry relationship being promoted by the present administration.
In addition, the Council raised another committee to advise the government on the involvement of the private sector in the management of the National Theatre.
Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, said the Council took a decision that some of the research centres, would have their services, transferred to the nearby universities in order to make them more functional and result-oriented.
According to Maku, in considering the draft document, government came out with the conclusion that research efforts that were disconnected from the industry were not bound to yield any results, as such the Council took decision to ensure that they were merged with the universities so as to ensure that their outcomes were put into national use.
Though, he did not name the specific agencies to be affected in the merger exercise, Maku, however, identified some agencies in the Ministry of Science and Technology, most of which, he said perform similar roles.
He added that the idea was not just to conserve funds for the government, but to ensure that government agencies were run effectively and efficiently.
The Guardian