The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Wednesday, allayed fear of job losses after the implementation of the Oronsaye Report, recommending the merger of the Federal Government’s ministries and departments.
This was as the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Wednesday, threw his weight behind President Bola Tinubu on the implementation of the 2012 Steve Oronsaye Report.
Twelve years after it received the Stephen Oronsaye Report, the Federal Government, on Monday, approved the implementation of some of its recommendations to reduce the cost of governance.
Consequently, 29 government agencies will be merged while eight parastatals will be subsumed into eight other agencies.
More so, four agencies have been relocated to four ministries while one was earmarked for scrapping.
On Wednesday, the information minister, in a statement by his media aide, Rabiu Ibrahim, said the development would not lead to job losses in the federal civil service.
The minister said, “The whole idea is that the government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery. It does not mean that government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market.”
The minister said the implementation of the report was a clear demonstration of “President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to fiscal prudence and responsible governance by championing a comprehensive review of the government‘s commissions, agencies, and parastatals.”
He added that the approval for the implementation of the Oronsaye Report, which followed a very careful review, was to ensure that essential services were not compromised.
Taking to his X handle on Wednesday, the LP presidential candidate, Obi, described the move by Tinubu to implement the Oronsaye Report as a positive one.
Obi said had he won the election, he would have done the same as President.
Obi said, “I have received several text messages from people wanting to know if I would have implemented the Oronsaye Report, whose full implementation has just been directed by the President.
“In response to their questions, I would like to refer everyone to my manifesto and my response to similar questions during my campaigns. On the 5th of October, 2022 at Harvard University, I was asked: ‘Will you implement the Oronsaye Report?’ and I responded in the affirmative.
“I went further to explain that implementing the report is one of the best ways to make governance efficient, cost-effective, and productive. Being in opposition does not warrant blind and thoughtless criticism. Whenever the government takes the right decision, we should agree and if need be, propose related or even better ideas to move the nation forward.
“Having found it imperative to implement the report, the government should now do away with the bogus and needless wastages of our scarce resources on frivolous issues, and deploy such funds to the critical areas of education, health, and pulling people out of poverty.”
