If you are one of those Nigerians who think that life will go back to normal in a post-COVID-19 Nigeria, you might just have to do a rethink.
Reason: President Muhammadu Buhari appears to have resolved to take some tough decisions with a view to pruning the size of the Federal Government by scrapping, merging and handing off a number of federal agencies, commissions and parastatals.
Indications to this effect emerged on Thursday as the President ordered the immediate implementation of the White Paper of a 2011 panel headed by a former Head of Service of the Federal, Mr. Steve Oronsanye, which audited federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and made various recommendations on the rationalization.
Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, announced the presidential directive via a twit on Thursday. Ogunlesi wrote:
“President @MBuhari has approved the implementation of the Oronsaye Report on Rationalisation and Restructuring of @NigeriaGov Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.
“The (Oronsaye) Committee was inaugurated by (President) @GEJonathan on August 18, 2011, and submitted its report on April 16, 2012.
“The Committee recommended the Abolition of 38 Federal Agencies, the Merger of 52, and the Reversion of 14 Agencies to Departments in relevant Ministries.
“Also recommended – discontinuation of @NigeriaGov funding of Professional Bodies/Councils. Reduction of size of Boards.”
The presidential directive has sent heads and workers of the affected agencies into overdrive as fear of job loss spreads among them.
A government source told The Dream Daily that implementing the Oronsaye report became imperative in view of “ the bleak funding reality staring all of us in the face as the coronavirus shuts down global economic activities, which tailspins into the crash of crude price below not just the benchmark of the 2020 budget but even below the cost of production. And of course you know that there have been no buyers for our oil, which, essentially, is where the Federal Government generates revenue from for all tiers of government to share.
“The reality is that the time has come for us to reduce the size of government at all levels and President Muhammadu Buhari has taken the bold step with this directive to implement the Oronsaye report, which has been gathering dust on the shelve for eight years now,” the source, who pleaded anonymity, stressed.
The source added that the country should brace up for “ other far-reaching reforms in the way government business is conducted from now on because of the impact of this pandemic. Government cannot go on as usual after this. That is the plain truth and Nigerians should expect similar difficult decisions from Mr. President. Thank you.”
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