220 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies
are likely to be scrapped in line with the recommendations of the White Paper
Committee on the Stephen Oronsaye’s Report which the Federal Executive Council
(FEC) has now begun its consideration.
The issue preoccupied Wednesday’s
meeting of the Council presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan with the
Presidency, however, assuring that there was no need for anxiety as the federal
government was not embarking on the exercise for the sake of throwing workers
out of their jobs.
Briefing State House correspondents
after the meeting, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,
Dr. Reuben Abati, revealed that the Council began the discussion and review of
the draft White Paper of the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and
Rationalization of Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies report.
Abati emphasized that no decision has
been taken on the matter but noted that the White Paper Committee looked at a
total of 541 agencies and accepted 321, leaving out 220.
According to him, “Council began a
review of the report of the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and
Rationalization of Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies in what is
popularly referred to as the Oronsaye committee.
“The draft White Paper had already
been prepared based on the report of that committee and what Council took today
was the draft White Paper for discussion and review. It is ongoing. That
process will continue during the next meeting.
“I know that many people have
expressed concerns on when the White Paper will be released. This makes it very
clear that works have been ongoing on the report of that committee.”
In an apparent attempt to assuage the
fears of workers, Abati, who said the White Paper would be released in due
course, noted that there was no need for any anxiety.
According to him, “the Oronsaye
Committee considered suggestions, recommendations from different quarters and
in total, that committee looked at 541 federal parastatals, commissions and
agencies. The White Paper Drafting Committee out of that accepted 321, noted some
recommendations, rejected some.
“At the end of the day, the FEC will
take final decision on this recommendation and when that is done, the White
Paper will be made public. I don’t think we should jump the gun. The thing to
note is that all of this is being done to ensure efficiency, to reduce the cost
of government, to avoid leakages and wastage and to make government far more
effective in delivering quality service to Nigerians.
“This is not targeted at pushing
anybody out of work, this is not an exercise in making life difficult for anybody.
This is just government restructuring for better level of efficiency. People
should not be unduly anxious.
“You can be assured that now that it
is at the level of the FEC, work will be completed on it very quickly, the
White Paper will be released and it will be implemented accordingly,”
Abati stated.
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Politics
I always stand I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ total amasement at the activities and decisions of the FG. Talking about reducing the number of parastatals and commissions to prevent leakages and wastage, reduce cost on government and all tha flimsy excuse. Talking about reducing cost, is there no other way to do that? National assembly members are dragging bags of monies home on a monthly basis, ghost workers planted by high authorities to rake I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ funds for themselves,public officers flying chartered flights,daily unknown corruption and a whole lot more. These for them is not considered cost on government, wastage but poor badly paid civil servants suddenly have put so much stress on the FG. If they don't take time, they'll be an uprising and revolution I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ this country. Reuben Abati, I hope Ÿ̲̣̣̣̥ø̲̣̣̥u̶̲̥̅̊'ll be there to explain things since that's what Ÿ̲̣̣̣̥ø̲̣̣̥u̶̲̥̅̊ are good at doing. So much for a president that had no shoes and walked miles to school.
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