If leadership is about vision, creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts confronted, as experts in leadership and management studies would insist; and if 'Brutal Facts' imply accepting current realities and giving them an objective appraisal, then there's every reason to worry about the Federal Government's handling of the report of the Stephen Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies. The said report was presented to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Monday, April 16, 2012. That's roughly a year plus, presently. Indications last week, however, were that the government might scrap 220 federal establishments following the commencement of deliberations on the recommendations of the White Paper Committee that reviewed the report by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Of special significance here was the remark credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who in the company of three ministers, briefed newsmen on the subject after the last week FEC meeting. Abati 'dismissed' fears that the restructuring would lead to job losses. "This is not an exercise in making life difficult for anybody. This is just government restructuring for better level of efficiency…", he reportedly said.
Equally of note was Oransaye's remarks when he presented his report to Mr. President last year, especially his observation that 12 years after the White Paper on the Ahmed Joda Panel Report on the Review, Harmonization and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Institutions and Agencies (2000), which listed some parastatals and agencies the FG decided should either be scrapped or commercialized, etc., was made available to the FG, the outfits were still receiving full government funding running into billions of naira. The report of the Allison Ayida Committee on the same matter in 1995 on how best to restore effectiveness and efficiency to the system yielded nothing positive, too. Oronsaye made references to the reports of past committees before his, which complained about the large sizes of the boards of parastatals, most of which had over 10 members, and said: "Today, the story remains the same. The long-standing challenges that beset the Nigerian public sector, including the parastatals, have created a 'single story' of inefficiency, corruption, poor work environment, low morale, ineffectiveness, deceit and low productivity, thereby establishing a perception of a dysfunctional and unproductive public sector. The weaknesses in the 'single story' have sometimes placed the sector in a situation where it is unable to perform its legitimate functions creditably". He then added: "Today's submission presents the nation with another opportunity to do what is right in an era where other governments around the world are moving towards cutting waste, entrenching transparency, ensuring more prudent spending and better service delivery, all with a view to recording meaningful gains for both institutions and the citizenry".
Oronsaye and his committee had in their 800-page report, recommended that FG ministries, departments and agencies, (MDAs) be pruned from 541 (263 statutory agencies inclusive) to 163. The committee said the FG would save roughly N862 billion between 2012 and 2015 with the immediate adoption and implementation of the report. Recall that about a fortnight after the release of the said report, the FG said it had commenced the deduction of 25 percent of the basic salaries of political office holders in the executive arm of government, which many considered an indication that the FG had come to terms with the urgent need to reduce its bloated cost of governance.
Is it not obvious that trimming the MDAs was for long necessitated by the high cost of governance well amplified by outrageous recurrent expenditure (over 70 percent of annual budgets), amid worsening ineptitude and corruption in the public sector? In December 2011, for example, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, drew attention to the country's objectionable cost of governance. "Nigerians should be asking if we have constitutionally wired ourselves to have lower cost of governance… Nigeria's constitution provides for a bicameral legislature, 36 states with each of the states having a House of Assembly; and 774 Local Government Areas. The Constitution also provides for a minister from each of the 36 states and many others. All these have put a certain fixed cost element on the country's expenditure profile. Until the Constitution is reviewed to address these issues, Nigerians should not expect any reduction in recurrent expenditure and cost of governance", he stated. Sanusi, in addition, stressed that any attempt to cut the recurrent expenditure would result in massive retrenchment or a downward review in the salaries of public officers.
But for these obvious realities, it is unlikely that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would be so panic-stricken with the latest report on FG's intention to rest 220 agencies. But from Abati's last week prevarication on the 'brutal facts' dogging the Oronsaye report and its implementation, however, it may be said that the report risks dubious and uninspiring exercise of political will and discretion, like others before it. Over one year after its submission, the FG is still 'reviewing' the report, and has probably not given thoughts to its implications for industrial harmony and which way to go if the worst happens, among others. This is quite unfortunate.
