Rep. Dennis Idahosa (APC – Edo) has urged President Bola Tinubu to implement the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye report on restructuring and rationalisation of federal parastatals, agencies and commissions.
This is contained in a statement by Idahosa on Monday in Benin. The lawmaker, who represents Ovia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said that there was no better time to implement the report than now.
According to him, the implementation of the report will strengthen the civil service, cut cost of governance and wastage of scarce resources.
Idahosa, the immediate past chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Compliance, lauded the actions taken so far by the President to save the nation’s economy.
"I must commend the move so far by President Bola Tinubu to stop the haemorrhage in the nation’s economy since he took over the reigns of power on May 29.
"The far reaching decisions such as removal of fuel subsidy and unification of exchange rate would free up revenue to implement policies and programmes aimed at bettering the lives of Nigerians.
"However, I am urging the President to also look for other ways to free more revenue such as the implementation of the Steve Oronsaye committee report that was set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
"Sadly, the government rather than reduce, harmonise or merge some agencies as recommended in the report, has gone ahead to establish more agencies.
"It is better we endure the short term effect of the inconveniences that will come with the implementation and later enjoy the long term effect, than to further delay its implementation," he said.
The lawmaker warned that dwindling revenue in the face of increasing demand for infrastructure, high debt burden and better welfare for citizens, posed great danger to the survival of the country.
According to him, this has made it more imperative to sustain campaigns for cost-cutting measures in governance across the board.
He explained that the Oronsaye committee had revealed high number of redundant MDAs with overlapping functions which had not only created ill feelings, but also unnecessary wastage in expenditure.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Oronsaye committee submitted an 800-page report on April 16, 2012, which recommended the abolition and merger of 102 government agencies and parastatals, while some were listed to be self-funding.
The committee also recommended, among other things, the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils.
These measures were meant to free funds for the implementations of government programmes.
The lawmaker, however, regretted that 10 years after, no administration had mustered the courage and political will to implement the report.
He allayed the fear that implementation of the report would lead to job losses in the federal civil service.
He assured that the National Assembly would give legislative backing to the implementation of the report where necessary.
Idahosa appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the current reforms by the president, assuring that the measures being taken would lead to enthronement of good governance in the country.