EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde and ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nt
The
Federal Government has approved the merging of its two anti-graft
agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.
The merger of the two commissions comes
as part of the government’s decision to implement the recommendations of
the Steve Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the rationalisation
and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and
Agencies.
This is contained in the report of the
review committee on the White Paper chaired by President Goodluck
Jonathan, obtained by our correspondent on Monday.
The EFCC was established in 2003 to
investigate financial crimes such as Advance Fee Fraud (419) and money
laundering. Its establishment by the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
administration was seen to be an urgent response to pressure from the
Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, which had named Nigeria
as one of the 23 countries non-cooperative in the international
community’s efforts to fight money laundering.
The ICPC was also inaugurated by the
Obasanjo administration to, among other functions, receive and
investigate reports of corruption and prosecute the offender[s]; and to
examine, review and enforce the correction of corruption-prone systems
and procedures of public bodies with a view to eliminating corruption in
public life.
Both agencies were set up by enabling laws.
Also the Federal Executive Council has
ordered the scrapping of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the National
Poverty Eradication Programme and 218 other agencies established by it.
The names and number of federal agencies
ordered to be scrapped or merged are included in a list already
approved by the FEC, a copy of which was obtained by one of our
correspondents on Monday.
Reuben Abati, spokesman for President
Goodluck Jonathan, had disclosed on June 12, 2013 that the FEC was
considering the scrapping of 220 out of 541 federal parastatals,
commissions and agencies.
But the Presidency said on Monday that
no final decision had been reached on the implementation of the Oronsaye
committee report.
“The report is still at the FEC level
and a committee was set up to review the White Paper. There is no final
decision yet on the recommendations, anything outside this is mere
speculation. Nigerians should wait until government releases the White
Paper. They should not rely on speculation,” Abati told journalists in
Abuja.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran
Maku, had at the end of the FEC meeting last Wednesday told journalists
that the council had concluded its three-week discussions on the draft
White Paper on the report of the committee.
The FEC list also shows that the Fiscal
Responsibility Commission has been abolished with its functions
transferred to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal
Responsibility, while BPE has been ordered “to conclude its assignment”
and be wound up.
The Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation
Commission will also assume the responsibilities of the National
Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, which has also been abolished by
the Federal Government.
Also abolished is the Public Complaints
Council, whose responsibilities are to be taken up by the National Human
Rights Commission.
The development followed months of
speculations about government’s plan to cut down cost of running the
government and to re-invigorate federal ministries, departments and
agencies for greater efficiency.
Among the recommendations of the
Oronsaye-committee rejected by the FEC was the scrapping of the Nigerian
Christian Pilgrims Commission and the National Hajj Commission of
Nigeria.
“The government rejects the
recommendation of the Presidential Committee that the NCPC and the
National Hajj Commission of Nigeria be abolished and their functions be
transferred to a department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,”
President Jonathan’s review committee stated.
Affected by the mild shake-up
recommended by the Oronsaye committee are two professional
organisations, the Council for Registered Engineers and Surveyors
Registration Council which the Federal Government had ordered would no
longer receive budgetary allocation from the 2015 Fiscal Year.
Shake-ups which the Federal Government
had also carried out on some of the parastatals, commissions and
agencies include a recommendation that “the law establishing Police
Service Commission be amended to make Hon. Minister of Police Affairs to
head the commission”.
The Federal Government has also directed
that “the withdrawal of the Military from the Contributory Pension
Scheme be reversed,” while the enabling law of the Nigeria Football
Association “will be amended to reflect the directive of International
Federation of Association Football (otherwise known as FIFA) that the
organisation should be renamed Federation”.
The National Youth Service Corps is also
to be “restructured with a view to developing a framework to cover
critical areas of national socio-economic development to which corps
members would be deployed for their primary assignments.”
Among the agencies to be retained by the
government are the Nigeria Police Council, Bureau of Public
Procurement, Infrastructural Concessionary and Regulatory Commission,
National Sports Commission, National Institute of Sports and Citizen
Leadership Training Centre.
Also to be retained are the Federal
Roads Maintenance Agency, which is to incorporate the Federal Highways
Department of the Federal Ministry of Works and transformed into an
“extra-ministerial department”, National Boundary Commission, Border
Communities Development Agency and National Merit Award.
Othes are the Debt Management Office,
Niger Delta Power Holding Company, National Bureau of Statistics, Centre
for Management Development and New Partnership for Africa’s Development
and the National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS.
Abati on Monday described as speculative
reports that the government had resolved to scrap some of its agencies
and merge others.
Maku had said that the FEC secretariat
had been directed to tidy up the draft White Paper with a view to
producing a clean copy that will be presented to Nigerians.
But the minister had given an insight
into one of the areas where the changes expected might be more
pronounced as the research institutes and centres under the Ministry of
Science and Technology.
Maku had said while some of the research
institutes would be scrapped, some others would be placed under
existing universities for improved efficiency.
He added that a committee chaired by the
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, was set up to take
another look at a section of the Oronsaye report that has to do with
research agencies spread across the country.
The idea, according to him, is to bring a
report that will rationalise the agencies and ensure that they become
more effective and result-driven.
Maku had said, “From what we have done,
it is very clear that major decisions will be taken in many of the key
sectors to reduce the number of agencies, particularly those that are
performing duplicating duties and whose functions overlap.
“For example, there are so many research
agencies under the Ministry of Science and Technology and when you look
at some of the agencies, some of the functions they perform could
indeed be coordinated by universities.”
PUNCH
No comments:
Post a Comment