October 6, 2022/CSL Research
The House of Representatives has commenced the process of scrapping and merging ministries, departments, and agencies of the Federal Government. According to a Punch news report, the house Ad Hoc Committee which was set up to investigate the duplication of functions of agencies of the Federal Government, at its inaugural investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday, asked the MDAs to justify why they should remain in existence and as individual entities. The report noted that the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), the National Gallery of Art (NGA) and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) appeared before the committee.
Recently, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, said that over 400 out of 541 Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies are to be eliminated as recommended by the Stephen Orosanye-led Presidential Committee on agencies’ rationalisation. Senator Olamilekan made the declaration on the second day of the ongoing interface between the committee and heads of MDAs on revenue drive for the implementation of the proposed N19.76trn 2023 budget. The Orosanye panel recommended the retention of 106 of the MDAs. According to him, revenue generation was the most critical factor being considered by the Federal Government.
The Stephen Oronsaye’s report recommended that some MDAs be merged to eradicate the existing duplication of functions, create synergies, and consequently reduce the cost of governance. Specifically, it recommended the consolidation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
It also recommended the amendment of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to accommodate the functions of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) as well as those of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC).
The Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is also to be subsumed in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) while the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) is to be merged with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). The Public Complaints Commission (PCC) is to be abolished and the Border Communities Development Agency’s (BCDA) functions are to revert to the National Boundary Commission, under which it was a department prior to its establishment amongst others.
Nigeria’s fiscal space remains constrained and outlook for revenue generation is poor. Recurrent spending will likely overshoot target while capital spending will be lower than planned. Hence, in the absence of any immediate solution to the low crude oil production and already stretched non-oil tax rates, embarking on aggressive cost savings becomes expedient
