The federal government reassured the public on Wednesday that there would not be significant job losses following the implementation of the Oronsaye Report.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in a statement signed by his media aide, Rabiu Ibrahim.
After twelve years of receiving the Stephen Oronsaye Report, the Federal Government recently approved some of its recommendations to reduce the cost of governance.
As a result, 29 government agencies will be merged, eight parastatals will be absorbed into other agencies, four agencies will be relocated to different ministries, and one agency is set to be scrapped.
The Oronsaye report, submitted in 2012, highlighted that there were a total of 541 Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies, both statutory and non-statutory.
A year ago, former President Goodluck Jonathan established the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies.
The committee was led by former Head of Civil Service, Stephen Oronsaye. The 800-page report suggested reducing 263 statutory agencies to 161, eliminating 38 agencies, merging 52, and converting 14 back into departments within different ministries.
However, Idris clarified, “The whole idea is that the government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery. It does not mean that government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market.”
The minister said the implementation of the report was a clear demonstration of “President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to fiscal prudence and responsible governance by championing a comprehensive review of the government‘s commissions, agencies, and parastatals.”
He mentioned that the approval for implementing the Oronsaye Report came after a thorough review to make sure that vital services were not compromised.
