Buhari confirms plan to reduce ministries

• To retain a minister per state
• ‘Badly’ privatised public assets to be
revoked
• MDAs to receive zero budgeting framework
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."

By : Godwin Onoghokere