The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), according to Channels Television, said in a statement on Tuesday that, unlike what is widely believed, the report will not significantly reduce the high expenses of government in the nation since it does not accurately depict the state of the public sector at the moment.
On Monday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Bola Tinubu, authorised the full execution of the Oronsaye report.
According to Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, the action was motivated by the desire to cut governance costs and improve efficiency across the governance value chain.
However, Falana stated that the execution of some of the Panel’s recommendations will undoubtedly take some time, as the merging of certain entities necessitates constitutional revisions or the abolition of several statutes.
He noted that since the Goodluck Jonathan government issued a White Paper on the Steve Oronsaye Report in 2014, the Federal Government has established additional ministries, departments, and agencies.
Falana stated that, despite the report’s recommendation to reduce 263 entities to 151, the number of ministries, departments, and agencies had risen to 1316.
He claimed that even Tinubu’s administration has raised the number of ministries and established new agencies; thus, the Steve Oronsaye Report is entirely outdated and will not cut the cost of governance.
Falana emphasised that in adopting the Oronsaye Report, the federal government should avoid exacerbating the security problem by laying off hundreds of thousands of workers.
Falana statement reads in part, “Since the Goodluck Jonathan administration produced a White Paper on the Steve Oronsaye Report in 2014, the Federal Government has created more ministries, departments, and agencies.
“Whereas the Report recommended the reduction of 263 agencies to 151, the number of ministries, departments, and agencies has increased to 1316. Even the current administration has increased the number of ministries and created new agencies. To that extent, the Steve Oronsaye Report is completely outdated and won’t reduce the cost of governance.
“However, in implementing the Oronsaye Report the Federal Government should ensure that the crisis of insecurity is not compounded through the retrenchment of hundreds of thousands of workers.” CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
