THE committee on rationalisation and restructuring of Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies yesterday submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan, recommending the abolition of 38 agencies, the merger of 52 others and the reversion of 14 agencies to their departments.
With a total number of 263 statutory and 278 non-statutory government parastatals, commissions and agencies, the panel recommended the reduction of the statutory agencies to 161.
The Guardian had earlier exclusively reported on the committee's abolition, merger or reversion of some of the federal agencies.
Chairman of the panel and former Head of Service of the Federation, Chief Stephen Oronsaye, observed "duplications and overlaps in the mandates of many parastatals and agencies", regretting that successive administrations set up parastatals without regard to existing laws and, in some cases, out-rightly replicating extant laws
For example, Oronsaye noted that the functions of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are the traditional functions of the Nigeria Police .
In the case of the Nigerian Broadcasting agencies (Nigerian Television Authority NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria FRCN) and Voice of Nigeria (VON), the Committee stated that they focused more on structures rather than acquisition of broadcasting software. In the Environment sector, the Committee observed that the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) was created to perform a function already assigned by law to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Besides, the committee added, "the continued existence of NOSDRA is tantamount to paying huge salaries to persons who do nothing but wait for spills to occur.
In the education sector, the Committee noted that three different agencies - the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Nomadic Education Commission (NEC), and the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NCMLA) all perform functions related to the provision of basic education. It therefore recommnded that the functions of all the other agencies should be taken over by UBEC as there is no economic gain in having the three bodies as separate entities.
According to the Committee, though the EFCC and ICPC "were established separately to address corruption, which the Police appeared to have failed to do, successive administrations have ironically continued to appoint the Chairman of the EFCC from the Police Force, while the methodology adopted by the ICPC in conducting investigations as well as the training of its personnel in investigation procedure are carried out by the Police. One wonders if it was really expedient to dismember the Nigeria Police rather than allow it to evolve as a vibrant and effective agency."
Another case it pointed out is that of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), which the panel said, "should not be in existence in its present form.
While acknowledging that the body has been quite active, the Committee observed that what the FRSC was set up to do is a replication of the mandates of two existing bodies namely: the Highway Department of the Federal Ministry of Works with respect to the maintenance of safety and orderliness on our highways and the role of the Nigeria Police Force in ensuring law and order on our roads.
"In a related situation, the Committee also noted the case where the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat) Limited, which was established as the commercial arm of the Nigerian Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA), with a sunset clause, has now expanded its scope and is in rivalry with its parent body. Indeed, only recently, the Nigerian Communications Satellite Corporation Bill was passed by the House of Representatives. Besides duplicating the satellite development functions of NASRDA, the Bill has created further needless duplications as it veers into the statutory functions of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in the area of frequency allocation.
"Indeed, it is a fundamental breach of acceptable practice of good public sector governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or individual interests. Such a practice has proved eventually to precipitate systemic conflicts, crises and even collapse at a substantial but avoidably high financial cost to government. The setting up of the FRSC to take over partially the functions already apportioned by law to the Federal Ministry of Works and the Nigeria Police Force as a result of seeming poor performance and/or to satisfy political and individual interests is a typical example of misadventure in the Public Sector at a great cost to government.
"Meanwhile, on the one hand, other bodies have their mandates intact as the relevant provisions of their enabling laws have not been repealed. On the other hand, the same provisions have been imported into the FRSC Act, making it appear as if the intention of Government is to make the FRSC have the same mandate as the bodies referred to. Mr. President, the point that must be reiterated is the fact that an institution is inefficient and ineffective should not be a basis for the creation of new ones. The officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force have been reputed for performing exceptionally and winning laurels while on international peace-keeping and other missions. This implies that the problems of our Police are not incurable. It is thus obvious that reaction to symptoms rather than the diagnosis of the problem has contributed significantly to the proliferation of parastatals and agencies. Government should therefore focus seriously on addressing and removing factors that militate against the effective performance of parastatals."
Oronsaye, who stated that the average cost of governance in Nigeria is believed to rank among the highest in the world, said he expects "resistance and reluctance by those who will always want to protect territories or seek to promote their selfish interests." But while noting that "the decisions to be taken by the Administration will be difficult, we are emboldened by the principle that if a decision is for the common good, it is best that those decisions are taken without delay."
Oronsaye added: "Once these have been successfully accomplished, it is believed that they will lead to cost-minimization and benefit-maximization for both the Government and the citizenry. Again, if the Executive is to succeed in this current restructuring and rationalization exercise for a slimmer and more cost-effective means of running government, it needs the other arms of government, particularly the Legislature, to work with it for the ultimate aim of evolving common solutions that border on Budget matters as well as amendments or repeal of existing laws."
"It would engender a reduction in the size of government and cost of governance cannot be gainsaid. However, the effective implementation of these recommendations, if accepted, would require bold and firm decisions that will entail administrative, political, legislative as well as robust and concerted Constitutional actions."
Jonathan said that in order to show the urgency his government attaches to the report, the members of the White Paper panel will be appointed before the close of business yesterday.
The Guardian