Buhari confirms plan to reduce ministries
Category: Nigerian National News
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AS part of measures to reduce redundancy in public service, President
Muhammadu Buhari is working on reducing the number of federal
ministries which currently stands at about 28.
He intends to merge those with similar functions.The Guardian had recently reported the plan to reduce ministries.
Also, state-owned enterprises dubiously allocated to friends or
relations under the guise of privatisation are to be reviewed and
reclaimed by the Federal Government while those that went through
transparent and credible processes are to be retained by their
investors.
However, to abide by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution that
each state shall be represented by a minister at the federal cabinet,
the President will still recommend 36 ministerial nominees to the
Nigerian Senate for consideration.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo revealed these plans of the
Buhari-government in a chat with The Guardian and two other media
organisations in Abuja at the weekend.
The implication is that most of the ministers to be appointed would
serve as Ministers of State to the few senior or supervising ministers.
Osinbajo explained that the plan is part of an overall strategy to
reduce waste of public resources and channel same to human capital
investment and key infrastructural revival.
The Vice President was responding to questions during the chat on the Federal Government’s economic agenda.
He said: “Definitely, we are not going to have as many ministries as we
have now and there is no question at all about that. The President has
made it quite clear that he intends to work with fewer ministers and of
course you may not have fewer ministers because the constitution says
you must have a minister from every state. But surely we must have fewer
ministries. That’s definitely what the President has said not once or
twice and I believe that we will overcome.”
On the privatisation of public assets, Osinbajo said: “Obviously,
there is no intention whatsoever to roll back privatisation. Government
generally must honour the obligations because government is a continuum.
But suppose what has happened in some cases, for example, is that there
was no bidding process and if it was just mere allocation? Some of the
noisiest people who complain about policies that would not favour them
are people who have benefitted from the system where things were not
done properly.
There is no reason why anybody will interfere with the process that
was done properly, but if you were just allocated a major government
facility without due bidding process, then, it is the duty of government
to ensure that you are put through the right process. When individuals
have been allocated resources that are very beneficial and there was no
due process, then, it cannot be allowed to stand.
Look at the bidding process that took place for telecoms in 2001 and
even some of the bidding processs for some of the National Independent
Power Project (NIPP) plants although that was stalled and we have to
reopen it. People would come forward and make completive bids. That’s
the way government grows its resources and you can’t give people gifts
that belong to everybody. Privatisation must have integrity, must be
transparent and must be proper.
As chairman of National Council on Privatisation (NCP) I very, very
strongly believe in privatisation in the first place and I believe that
it’s the way to go. I also believe that the process must be strictly
transparent and it must be clear to all that there are no entries
through back-doors or anything not transparent. It must be stated that
there is no intention to roll back any of the privatisation process that
has already taken place,” he reassured.
Speaking on the preparation of the 2016 Fiscal Plan of the Federal
Government, Osinbajo said efforts were already on, just as he expressed
the hope that the budget would not suffer too much delay as the
framework will be submitted to Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs) on Tuesday for their input.
His words: “What we are doing at the moment is on the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in particular and we expect that it would
be submitted to the House of Representatives very shortly.
‘‘We also have many ministries already working and by Tuesday we would
be sending guidelines for the zero budget process and all of that. We
have tried to sensitise the heads and have held several meetings between
the revenue generating agencies and the Budget Office, the National
Planning Commission (NPC) all the revenue generating agencies, like
Customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and others.
We are basically meeting and working out the parameters for the new
budgeting system and would by Tuesday, be sending the guidelines to the
MDAs. We are trying to work round the clock, holding meetings daily.
It’s a rigorous process and I don’t want to commit to any timeline or
dates and anyway very soon we are going to have our ministers in place.”
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the NILS, Dr. Ladi Hamalai, who
has been talking on the place of the institute and its relevance in the
overall contribution to the political and economic growth, regretted
that the bill seeking the establishment of the Budget Office of the
National Assembly in Nigeria suffered a set back leading to it’s being
thrown out.
She gave assurance, however, that NILS, as part of the research base
of the National Assembly would spearhead the representation of the bill
and push for its passage.
Hamalai explained that the passage would correct the erroneous
perception by a section of the population that the National Assembly was
not productive enough.
She said: “We are working on it and very soon we will re-present the
bill for the Budget Office of the National Assembly because of its
importance to even the lawmakers and for the speedy passage of budget
proposals by the executive.”
Source: Guardian Newspaper
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