Oronsaye report: FG policies undermine attempt to cut cost of governance

Adebayo Obajemu

Current revenue challenges of government has again reopened the issue of the size of the public service and the cost cost of governance, which now consumes all of government revenue with nothing left for capital projects. A couple of times this government had directed a review of the Oronsaye Report on the rationalisation of government ministries and agencies to no avail.

On the contrary, checks by Business Hallmark indicate that the government has created more agencies and commissions than any other administration since 1999. The number of new MDAs seems to have spike since 2019, with a pliant National Assembly led by Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila.

In a television interview last week, Mr. Ben Akabueze, Director General, Budget Office, broached the dilemma facing government, stressing that it may not be a matter of over bloated service but
misalignment of staffing.

“In term of the size of the public service of the country in relation to population, the public service is actually understaffed. But there is incidence of too many people in some MDAs and fewer staff in others. The challenge is how to balance this disproportion by ensuring that there is appropriate balance in staffing across board.”

The cost of governance in Nigeria is so high that is becoming difficult to sustain it . This reality has become a source of worry to successive governments, while experts and stakeholders have called for drastic action in form of cutting costs by reducing bloated workforce through rationalisation of agencies and departments of government among other recommendations.

Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist told Business Hallmark that “the huge cost of governance in the country is associated with a lot of factors, one of which is duplication of agencies performing same or similar functions.

“Look at EFCC and ICPC. Another reason for this cost is political patronage, politicians believe in bloated government and command structure economy where they will be able to settle their allies .

Moritiwon’s voice resonates with other experts who are calling for a reduction on the cost of governance, especially at the federal level. In 2021 ICPC report, the agency advocated the restructuring of Nigeria into six regions as a measure pivotal to reducing the cost of governance. This position is not new. For years, statesmen, political leaders and policy analysts have called for it.

In the past there had been abortive bids by successive governments to cut cost through a trimming down of federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as viable measure to cut cost . In 2011, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the chairmanship of Steve Oronsaye, a former Head of service.

The Oronsaye-led committee then turned in a 800-page report on April 16, 2012, which among others called for the abolition and merger of 102 government agencies and parastatals, while some were listed to be self-funding.

The committee gave an informed expose on the high level of competition among several overlapping agencies, which had not only resulted in unnecessary wastage of government expenditures but has also bred unhealthy competition.

Among other recommendations of the committee is stoppage of government funding of professional bodies and councils. The measures were, primarily to free funds for the much-needed capital projects across the country.

Oronsaye’s report has led to a mixed bag of feelings as the acceptance of the recommendations would inevitably lead to barrage of sack , but many felt that in spite of the implications on agencies and individuals that might be affected by the exercise (if implemented), the civil service would be strengthened and made more productive.

Following the submission of the White Paper on the report in March 2014, an Implementation Committee was set up two months later. Eight years down the lane, the government, rather than reduce, harmonise or merge some agencies as recommended in the report, has gone ahead to establish more agencies.

Ten years on, there has been a lull in the actions toward implementing the recommendations of the report.

Dr. Adeniyi Abiodun, a political sociologist told Business Hallmark that chief problem to the report’s implementation is that most of the affected agencies were creations of legislation. He opined that the enabling laws have to be repealed before the agencies cease to exist.

But many experts, who spoke to this medium said the body language, actions and inactions of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and members of the National Assembly have betrayed a lack of commitment to reducing unnecessary government spending or even implementing recommendations of the report.

Rather, what has been happening over the last 10 years has been the issuance of directives and the setting up of new committees to draft a White paper or to review the report entirely.

Specifically, among a number of back-and-forth movements without motion made by the government since 2012, there had been the setting up of the Bukar Aji Committee to review the Mohammed Adoke White Paper on the Steve Oronsaye Report. There had been the Amal Pepple Committee to review new Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions (PAC) created between 2012 to October 2021; just as there had been the Ebele Okeke Committee to draft a White Paper on the Amal Pepple Committee Report on new Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions created between 2012 and 2021.

Business Hallmark’s findings have revealed a total disrespect of the report of the Oronsaye Committee, as no fewer than 250 additional agencies, commissions and parastatals have been created through new legislative bills in the National Assembly after the Oronsaye Report.

It is of curious interest that some of the legislative bills for the creation of these agencies have either been passed and assented to by the President or have reached very advanced stages in legislative process, calling in question the commitment of the FG to implementing the Oronsaye report.

Professor Moritiwon said the National Assembly have undermined the wish of the people to cut cost and reduce bloated government .

” I can tell you that the National Assembly is guilty; they are culpable in increasing the overall cost of governance. If you do a thorough checks, you will see that between 2015 and 2019, some 213 out of the total number of 311 bills introduced to the 8th Senate were bills that aimed to create more federal agencies and commissions”, he said. He stressed that of the lot only 80 of those bills received Presidential assent.

Duplication of functions of existing agencies was also key among the reasons the President vetoed 53 National Assembly bills between 2017 and 2019.

It should be noted that out of the 742 legislative bills introduced to the two chambers of the National Assembly between June 2019 and June 2021, over 262 are establishment bills, that is, bills seeking the establishment of one agency or the other. Besides, some of the bills were introduced to seek legal recognition for already existing federal agencies.

Moritiwon noted a lack of synergy between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government as an important variable in the delay in implementing the Oronsaye report.

While the president blames the National Assembly for ignoring the Oronsaye report and continues to churn out legislations that create more agencies, the parliament says it has not received any communication from the executive arm with respect to any serious action on the Oronsaye report.

A principal officer who craved anonymity told Business Hallmark that ” we members of the National Assembly faulted the criticisms against the legislature on the delay in the report’s implementation.

“For instance, the Presidency knows that to effect meaningful changes and reduce the number of agencies and commissions, there is the need for serious legislative actions particularly to repeal the laws that created existing agencies. Has the executive arm sent any communication to the National Assembly in this regard? The answer is no! So why blame the National Assembly? It may interest you to note that some of the legislative Bills for the creation of more agencies and commissions are executive bills”.

Among the most important recommendations contained in the report include the merger of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as one agency; abolition of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) both of which functions will be subsumed under the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

Also, the Oronsaye committee recommended that laws backing educational agencies like National Examination Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Board (NABTEB) be repealed to give the West African Examination Council (WAEC) the functions of both.

In broadcasting, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Voice of Nigeria and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) will be consolidated under the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (FBCN).

Last year, a former Managing Director of the defunct Diamond Bank, Mr. Alex Otti, said the cost of governance in Nigeria was too high and unsustainable.

Otti made the call in a paper titled, ‘Massive government, miserable populace: Cost of governance as economic growth decelerator’, presented at the 10th anniversary lecture of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State.

In the paper he noted that over 70 per cent of the budget on recurrent expenditure and less than 30 per cent on capital expenditure was big problem. According to him, the cost of governance is a drain on the nation’s scare resources as well as unsustainable given the country’s economic predicament.

He pointed out that Nigerian senators earned about $450,000 per annum, over two and half times the $174,000 per annum that their counterparts earned in the United States of America.

He said, “From information available to the public, our federal legislators are amongst the highest paid in the world. Specifically, a study showed that they are the second to the highest earning worldwide.

“Meanwhile, there are three senators per state and one for Abuja, totalling 109. The 109 senators have a combined staff of 829 aides on payroll and a retinue of support staff who are also paid by the National Assembly.”

Otti also noted that the average House of Representative member in Nigeria earned $224,000 more than their counterpart in the United States, adding that the Presidency gulped a large chunk of annual revenue as well.

According to him, the budget allocations to the National Assembly, between N125bn and N150bn annually, are over 15 per cent of the annual combined budgets for education and health for 200 million Nigerians.

“Looking at our peculiar circumstances, where close to half of our population lives in poverty and in the face of the pandemic that has grounded the world economy, ours included, this amount becomes an issue that deserves closer scrutiny and calls for immediate redress.

“Furthermore, spending on social services and infrastructure, which affects most of the people, continues to decline, while that of the legislators remains at high level. While the number of legislators remains steady at 469, the general population of Nigeria keeps growing and about six Nigerians drop into poverty every minute.

“We advocate drastic reduction actions to control costs and be able to carry out the required spending on critical infrastructure for the populace to grow and also enhance internally generated revenue.”

He also urged that the Presidency be cut down by about 40 per cent, using the same logic introduced by the Oronsaye report and for the National Assembly to be reduced to 117 people.