Dr. Reuben Abati, special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, told journalists after the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting yesterday that the council has began deliberations on the Committee's white paper.
The Oronsaye’s committee considered suggestions, recommendations from different quarters and looked at 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies and recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversal of 14 to departments in ministries.
The recommendation is contained in an 800-page report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan by the Chairman of the Committee, Stephen Oronsaye last year.
The report stated that the average cost of governance in Nigeria is believed to rank among the highest in the world.
Oronsaye said: ``For example, there are 541 Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies (statutory and non-statutory).
``Going by the recommendations of the Committee, the figure of statutory agencies is being proposed for reduction to 161 from the current figure of 263.
``The Committee believes that if the cost of governance must be brought down, then both the Legislature and Judiciary must make spirited efforts at reducing their running costs as well as restructuring and rationalising the agencies under them, since the three arms make up the government.’’
In the report, the Committee proposed the removal of all professional bodies/councils from the national budget in order to reduce the high cost of governance.
Oronsaye-led committee, specifically mentioned the case of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) which it said should not be in existence.
This government is indeed very expensive to run, so this wouldn't be a bad idea. But care should be taken to scrape the right MDA.
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