The Federal Government has approved the merger of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in its bid to restructure commissions and agencies.
The government also approved the scrapping of the National Poverty Eradication Programme and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.
These are some of the highlights of the White Paper issued by government on the report of the Steve Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on. Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and agencies.
A copy of the 105-page document dated March 2014 was made available to State House correspondents on Monday.
According to the document, the three agencies in the aviation sector will fuse into a new body to be known as the Federal Civil Aviation Authority and their respective enabling laws would be amended accordingly to reflect the merger.
Another highlight of the White Paper is government’s rejection of the committee’s recommendation for the merger of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent and Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission and the Code of Conduct Bureau.
It also rejected the renaming of Code of Conduct Tribunal to Anti-Corruption Tribunal.
The government also rejected the recommendation that Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission be subsumed under the Bureau of Public Enterprises for greater synergy.
While rejecting the recommendation for an amendment in name and status of the Federal Civil Service Commission to the Federal Public Service Commission, the government however accepted the recommendation of a single term of five years for the Chairman and members of the commission.
It accepted the recommendation for the scrapping of Fiscal Responsibility Commission and directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to initiate necessary action for the abolition.
Government further directed that the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission should henceforth perform the functions of the FRC.
According to the document, the government also accepted the recommendation that the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission’s enabling law be repealed and the functions of the commission be subsumed under the RMAFC.
Some of the recommendations of the Oronsaye committee rejected by the government according to the White Paper are:
* the recommendation of the merger of Nigerian Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and Voice of Nigeria into one body to be known as Federal Corporation Broadcasting of Nigeria. Rather, government directs that NTA be fully commercialised by 2013.
*the recommendation for the abolition of Federal Character Commission but rather the government directed that the commission be strengthened to perform its constitutional role and functions.
*that the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission be located as a parastatal in the Ministry of Power.
*that the Public Complaints Commission be abolished.
* the recommendation that the law establishing the Border Communities Development Agency be repealed and its functions reverted to the National Boundary Commission.
* the recommendation that government should disengage from funding current expenditure of National Institute on Policy and Strategic Studies from the 2015 fiscal year and limit itself to certain essential capital requirement of the institute.
* the merger of National Emergency Management Agency and the National Refugees Commission into one agency to be known as the National Emergency Management and Refugees Commission.
* the recommendation for the Debt Management Office to become an extra ministerial department in the Federal Ministry of Finance and be delisted from the Office of the Vice President.
* the recommendation that the Act setting up FRSC be repealed and that its road safety functions be reverted to the Highways Department of the Federal Ministry of Works.
* the recommendation that the enabling law of the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS be repealed.
* that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission be abolished and their functions transferred to a department under Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
* the recommendation that government stops sponsoring pilgrims and pilgrimages with effect from 2012 Fiscal year.
* the privatisation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian in view of the security situation of the country.
* that the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and the regulatory functions of Nigerian Postal Service be brought together under a unified management structure to be known as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Nigeria.
* the recommendation that the Act establishing the National Examinations Council be repealed and Council’s activities be returned to the WAEC, but directed the Minister of Education to streamline the two bodies to ensure standards and integrity.
* that the Act of the National Business and Technical Examinations Board be repealed and the Board’s activities be returned to WAEC.
* the re-introduction of tuition in Federal Government’s universities.
* the abolition of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.
* that NDE and Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria be merged to form a single agency for wealth creation.
* that the Ministry of Police Affairs be scrapped.
* the scrapping of Raw Materials Research and Development Council.
* the scrapping of Energy Commission of Nigeria and
* the recommendation that the National Sports Commission revert to the proposed Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as an agency.
According to the White Paper, some of the committee’s recommendations accepted by the Federal Government are:
* that the practice whereby certain categories of retirees are opting out of contributory pension scheme be stopped and government directed that only the military may withdraw from the scheme.
* the recommendation that the Bill seeking for the establishment of New Partnership for African Development as an agency of the Federal Government be withdrawn from the National Assembly as there are already laws relating to most of their activities being performed by NEPAD.
* that the Utilities Charges Commission be abolished and its enabling law repealed and government directed that the process of repealing the enabling law be initiated by Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
* the recommendation that the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation be fully commercialised.
* that the passed bill on the Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Service should not be assented to by the President.
* that the Veterinary Research Council of Nigeria should as a professional body be self-funding and that further budgetary allocation of the council should cease forthwith.
* that the enabling law of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology be amended and the college restructured.
* that NIPOST be partially commercialised.
*to sell off government’s shares in NigComSat directed that government will retain minority shares. It also accepted that the functions of NigComSat that relates to space development be reverted to the National Space Development Agency.
* that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board should continue to exists as the central examination body for admissions into Nigerian universities and directs that it must play its regulatory role to ensure that all students for undergraduate admissions into Nigerian universities must pass through JAMB including direct entries.
* that the function of the Nigerian Institute for Education Planners and Administrators be merged with those of the National Teachers Institute.
* that the Nigerian Film Corporation be commercialised from 2013 fiscal year but with government retaining seed funding.
* that all offices of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies outside Lagos and Abuja be closed down immediately to ensure judicious use of available resources in line with government policy.
* that National Council of Arts and Culture be merged with the National Troupe and the National Theatre into one agency called National Council of Arts and Culture.
* that the Nigerian Financial Reporting Council ceases to be funded by government from 2015.
* that the Industrial Training Fund be self-funding from 2014.
* that the allegation made by the National Boundaries Commission against the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation over the funding of two non existent boundary demarcation be properly investigated.
* and the management audit of the National Institute for Sports.
It will be recalled that the Oronsaye committee had on April 16, 2012 submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan and recommended the reduction of the existing 263 government’s statutory agencies in the country to 161.
In all, the committee recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversion of 14 agencies to departments in the relevant ministries.
For instance, it recommended the scrapping of both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, saying the two key anti-corruption agencies were performing the functions of the Nigeria Police Force.
Upon receipt of the report Jonathan set up a 10-member White Paper Drafting Committee led by the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
Apart from the EFCC and the ICPC, the committee had also recommended that the Federal Road Safety Corps should not be in existence in its current form.
It said although the FRSC had been quite active, what the body was set up to do was a replication of the mandates of two existing bodies: the Highway Department of the Ministry of Works with respect to the maintenance of safety and orderliness on highways and the role of the Nigeria Police in ensuring law and order on the roads.
In all, Oronsaye said if the committee’s report was adopted and agencies reduced in accordance with the recommendation, government would be saving over N862bn between 2012 and 2015.
The breakdown showed that about N124.8bn would be reduced from agencies proposed for abolition; about N100.6bn from agencies proposed for mergers; about N6.6bn from professional bodies; N489.9bn from universities; N50.9bn from polytechnics; N32.3bn from colleges of education and N616m from boards of federal medical centres.
Recently, speculations were rife that government had concluded arrangements to scrap the National Examination Council and cancel the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination being conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board for applicants into the nation’s tertiary institutions based on the Oronsaye report.
The reports had it that under a new arrangement that will be contained in the White Paper, in place of UTME, authorities of all tertiary institutions would now be at liberty to conduct their entrance examinations as they had been doing for post-UTME. JAMB will however serve as a clearing house.