MDAs

Abuja, Feb. 27, 2024: The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the merging, scrapping and subsuming of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Federal Government in line with its policy of reducing cost of governance.

Hajiya Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, made this known at the end of the second Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of 2024.

She said the decision was based on the Steve Oronsaye Report on civil service reforms inaugurated under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

For agencies that would  merge Bala-Usman said the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria is to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria while the National Commission for Museum and Monuments is to be merged with the National Gallery of Acts.

She said the National Theatre is to be merged with National Troupe of Nigeria while the National Meteorological Development Centre is to be merged with the National Meteorological Training Institute.

‘’National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health while National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to be merge with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.

‘’The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa will be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid and to function as a Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

” Infrastructure concession Regulatory Commission to be merged with Bureau for public enterprises.

‘’Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission to be merged with Nigerian Export Promotion Council while the National Agency for science and technology and science and engineering infrastructure to be merged with National Centre for agricultural mechanisation and the Project Development Institute,” she said.

The Special Adviser further said that the National Biotechnology Development Agency will  be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology.

She said the National Institute for Leather Science Technology will be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology;

Bala-Usman said the Nomadic Education Commission will be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-formal Education.

She said the Nigerian Army University will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as a faculty within the Academy;.

Similarly,  the Air Force Institute of Technology also will  be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as the faculty of Nigerian Defence Academy.

On the agencies to be subsumed, Bala-Usman said the Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) will be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau of Public Service Reform.

She said the border Communities Development Agency will be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission.

‘’The National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission while the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs;

“The Public Complaints Commission to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission while the Nigerian Institute for trypanosomiasis to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research.

‘’The National Medicine Development Agency to be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development while the National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the Nigerian pension commission,” she said.

On the agencies to be relocated, the President’s aide said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company to be relocated to the Ministry of Power while the National Agricultural Land Development Agency to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

She said the National Blood Service Commission will be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health while the Nigerian Diaspora Commission to be converted into an agency and to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Bala-Usman said  the President had constituted a committee that would, work within 12 weeks, to ensure that  necessary restructuring and legislative amendments needed to ensure full actualisation of these approvals were granted.

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to ensuring Ministries, Departments, and Agencies(MDAs) complied with the Executive Order 001(EO1) on Transparency and Efficiency in the Nigerian Business Environment.

Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business and Secretary, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), said this on Thursday in Abuja.

Oduwole restated PEBEC’s promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on MDAs performance through its Executive Order report.

She said in the PEBEC’s 2022 EO1 Compliance Report, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) performed the highest with 81.11 per cent.

She said the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) came second and third with 78.68 per cent and 68.37 per cent respectively.

The PEBEC secretary said Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) came fourth with 64.59 per cent and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) fifth with 63.68 per cent.

According to Oduwole, the codification of EO1 directives in the Business Facilitation Act 2022 is a major development in the efforts to entrench EO1 in the psyche of the Civil Service.

She expressed optimism that the legal provisions enshrined in it would serve as a stimulus for a more transparent and efficient public service delivery in Nigeria.

On penalties for noncompliance, Oduwole said there were penalties for public office holders in the public service rule.

She, however, called on the private sector to report cases of corruption or abuse of the act.

She urged Nigerians to explore the Business Facilitation Act 2022 to ensure the reduction in most bottlenecks encountered in doing business in the country.

The secretary also called on the media to collaborate with PEBEC to create more awareness among the public on the benefits of the Order.

The EO1 was issued as the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s first Executive Order on May 18, 2017.

It is meant to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms and deepen collaboration among MDAs by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms.

EO1 mandates MDAs to submit monthly reports to the PEBEC Secretariat, the offices of the Head of Service (HOS) of the Federation, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and SERVICOM.

The PEBEC, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was established in July 2016 by Buhari to remove critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to business in Nigeria.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has suggested that Government organisations at all levels should focus more on skills and talents during employment instead of certificates.

The Minister made the suggestion on Tuesday, during the prize presentation ceremony and the Grand Finale of Katsina National Talent Hunt Challenge competition in Katsina.

He said if considered, this will go a long way in creating more job opportunities and addressing problems of unemployment in the country.

The Minister added that by extension, such a move will solve the challenges bedeviling the country, especially in the area of employment and job delivery.

He then urged the organizers of the competition to keep the record and database of all the participants for easy mentoring.

According to him, the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has put more efforts in that direction by providing various empowerment programmes to Nigerians for self-reliance.

The minister insisted that the problem of Nigeria is not employment but employability.

He said the Nigerian government over the past five years has been moving towards creating an employability atmosphere for young Nigerians by engaging them in skills and acquisitions.

Pantami said, “This is what we have been agitating for the last five years that there is a need for us to focus more in identifying our brilliant minds, our youthful minds within our communities.

“So that we give them what they need, with this we will be able to create many jobs, we will be able to bring our paradigm shift in which we will be producing potential job providers instead of potential job seekers.

“As the situation is today, most of our young people after their school are not anywhere thinking of entrepreneurship or any vocational skill, but they are only interested in government employment and this will not happen anywhere in the world.

“The only way we will be able to improve in our economy, address the issue of unemployment and employability is through giving more priority and preference to the youth that have brilliant ideas that are willing to be self-reliant. With this, they will be able to employ others.”

Gov. Aminu Masari, in his speech, highlighted the objective of the competition which he said was out to encourage innovation and develop youth potential talents and innovators in the state and the country.

He added that the competition would raise the status of the state among its counterparts in the country and the world in general.

“The main objective of the competition is to encourage innovation and develop the potential talents of the youths of the state in particular and Nigeria in general.

“This is in line with the vision of my administration, which believes in the potential of the Nigerian youths,” he said.

The Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Jelani Aliyu, encouraged the participants to sustain the tempo.

He further advised them to also prepare themselves to become world best talents in their chosen career.

During the ceremony, four categories of prices were presented to the winners, where the overall winner went home with a brand new Toyota Highlander jeep and N2 million.

The four categories include; Arts and Design, Automotive Modeling and Products, ICT Design as well as Music and Entertainment.

The third-placed winners in each of the categories received N1.5 million each, second positions N3 million each, while those who placed first received N5 million each.

In addition to the cash prizes, 100 contestants were rewarded with consolation prizes of N100,000 each.