Senate may scrap ‘moribund’ agencies, merge others

Strong indications emerged Wednesday that the Senate may soon commence moves to scrap some “moribund departments and agencies” of the Federal Government.

According to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who suggested the idea, other agencies and departments with conflicting responsibilities would be merged.

Ekweremadu spoke when the Senate considered an interim report of its ad hoc committee on Alleged Mis-use, Under Remittance and other Fraudulent Activities.

He said the Senate may soon request for a copy of the report of the Presidential committee on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies, chaired by a former Head of Service, Steven Oronsaye.

Oronsaye’s committee had recommended the scrapping of 102 statutory agencies from the current 263, abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversion of 14 to departments in the ministries.

The 800-page report also recommended the discontinuation of government funding of professional bodies and councils.

Ekweremadu who argued that some of the agencies were only receiving free annual allocations but were not productive, called for a review of some Acts setting up the agencies.

Read also: We’re sorry, Army tells family of Okada rider beaten to death by a soldier in Lagos

He revealed that laws governing the agencies were at variance with the provisions of the 1999 constitution as amended. Ekweremadu said the Fiscal Responsibility Act, did not apply to some of the agencies.

“I think the Senate should demand for a copy of the Oronsaye committee report. As a Senate, we need to look at the report and see how we can scrap moribund departments and agencies.

“Then for others with conflicting responsibilities, we need to merge them. Another challenge is that, the laws setting up these agencies, predate our constitution and Section 1 of the Constitution is clear. It says any other law that contradicts the provisions of the 1999 constitution, is null and void.

“But only a law court can make a law null and void. Another body that can make a law null and void is the National Assembly. And that will only happen through amendments of these laws. So, we have to do these things,” Ekweremadu said.

Ben Murray Bruce, who spoke earlier on the issue, called for outright privatisation of moribund agencies of the Federal Government. He said the National Assembly should stop allocating funds to agencies to only pay salaries, adding that billions of naira would be saved.

He specifically called for the scrapping of agencies that were created before or during the Nigerian Civil War, but had become irrelevant.

At the end of deliberations on the interim report, no decision was reached. Instead, the Senate extended the sitting period of the committee by six weeks, during which, it was expected to submit the final report for consideration.

Meanwhile, the Senate committee on Public Accounts, has threatened that lawmakers may no longer approve budgets of agencies which did not submit their annual audit reports to the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF).

Chairman of the committee, Matthew Urhoghide, who briefed newsmen, said names of defaulting agencies would soon be published in newspapers to ensure that they complied.

He said, “This committee will ensure that all the parastatals comply with the constitutional provision of their annual reports and audited accounts to the office of the AGF promptly.

“In fact, the committee has concluded plans to publish their names in the mass media. From now on, appropriate sanctions shall be applied. The committee will further recommend to the Senate to suspend approval of the budget of the defaulting agencies until they comply”.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now