The
continuous existence of some Federal Government agencies and parastatals was
put in doubt yesterday as the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and
Rationalisation of federal agencies said their creation was an aberration and a
drain on national purse.Some
of these agencies which the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Steve Orasanye,
questioned their establishment when he submitted the report of the committee to
President Goodluck Jonathan included the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences
Commission, Federal Road Safety Commission and National Oil Spill Detection and
Response Agency.According
to Orosanye, the creation of some of the agencies was not borne out of altruism
but selfish interest without regard to existing laws.He said:
“One case that stands out clearly in this regard is that of the Federal Road
Safety Commission (FRSC), which should not be in existence in its present
form.”While
acknowledging that the body has been quite active, the committee observed that
what FRSC was set up to do is a replication of the mandates of two existing
bodies, the Highway Department of the Federal Ministry of Works with respect to
the maintenance of safety and orderliness on our highways and the role of the
Nigeria Police Force in ensuring law and order on our roads.“Indeed,
it is a fundamental breach of acceptable practice of good public sector
governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming
failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or
individual interests.”Such
a practice has proved eventually to precipitate systemic conflicts, crises and
even collapse at a substantial but avoidably high financial cost to
government,” he said.He
added that “The setting up of FRSC to take over partially the functions already
apportioned by law to the Federal Ministry of Works and the Nigeria Police
Force as a result of seeming poor performance and/or to satisfy political and
individual interests is a typical example of misadventure in the public sector
at a great cost to government.