The Federal Government is being urged to coordinate with the National Assembly to expedite the creation of new PACs by the committee established to produce a white paper on the review of new parastatals, agencies, and commissions created in 2012 following the submission of the Stephen Oronsaye report.
It continued by observing that the structure, management, and oversight of some of the PACs were not clearly defined in their legal frameworks and urging a change in the law.
A committee led by Oronsaye was established in 2011 by the former president Goodluck Jonathan to rationalise and reform parastatals, commissions, and agencies of the federal government.
In November 2021, the apex government inaugurated two committees; one of the committees was to review the Steve Orosanye report and its White Paper chaired by Goni Aji, a retired Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
The second committee was constituted to review agencies created from 2014 till date, chaired by Amal Pepple, also a retired Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Upon submission of their reports, the government in July 2022 set up another committee chaired by Engr. Ebele Okeke, a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to produce a white paper on the reports.
Speaking during the presentation of the white paper to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha in Abuja, Okeke stressed that it was important to discuss with the leadership of the National Assembly to achieve the desired result, adding that most of the agencies created were products of bills from the Nation Assembly.
She said, “The committee observed that the legal framework/enabling Act of some of the PACs did not clearly define structure, management and oversight. Most of the laws used Agency, Commission and Board interchangeably. For instance, where the organization is defined as a Commission, the provisions of the law did not support the structure of a Commission. In this regard, the Committee recommended change in status/name, amendment of the Act/Law.
“The committee observed that most of the agencies created (especially under Education and Health) were Bills that emanated from the National Assembly. It is therefore important to engage and dialogue with the National Assembly to generate an understanding to streamline the creation of new PACs.
“It is noteworthy that some of the recommendations can be considered as low-hanging fruits that can be implemented immediately after approval of the White Paper.”
The SGF reiterated the government’s commitment to repositioning the public service for effective service delivery, assuring Nigerians that the White Paper would be given all the necessary attention.