Oronsaye Report Outdated, Won’t Reduce Governance Cost — Falana

Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has voiced his concerns over the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) recent decision to fully implement the 12-year-old Steve Oronsaye Report, which suggests the merger of various government agencies and commissions.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, issued a statement on Tuesday, labeling the report as outdated and doubting its efficacy in significantly reducing the government’s operational costs in its current form.

The FEC, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, had approved the report’s implementation on Monday, with Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, citing the urgent need for cost reduction and increased efficiency in governance as the primary motivations for this move.

However, Falana argues that the Oronsaye Report, despite its original intentions, no longer accurately reflects the present realities and complexities of Nigeria’s public service.

According to him, the expectation that the report’s recommendations would lead to a substantial decrease in governance costs is misplaced, as it fails to take into account the significant changes and expansions that have occurred within the public service sector over the past decade.

This critique comes at a time when Nigeria is grappling with economic challenges and the government is exploring various strategies to streamline operations and alleviate financial burdens.

The Oronsaye Report’s implementation has been viewed by some as a long-overdue step towards achieving these goals.

However, Falana said, “No doubt, the implementation of some of the recommendations of the Panel will take appreciable time as the merger of certain bodies require constitutional amendments or repeal of a number of statutes.

“The 800-page report of the Steve Oronsaye Panel recommended the reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in different ministries,

“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.

“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.

“Instead of downsizing the public service the Federal Government should ensure that the two houses of the National Assembly are merged while the number of Ministers, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants is significantly reduced.”