Here are the key outcomes from today’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu:
– FEC greenlit the construction of the Lagos-Port Harcourt-Calabar Coastal Superhighway, with Messrs Hitech Construction Africa to undertake the first phase, spanning 47 kilometers, starting from Lagos.
– Immediate commencement of social security payments to vulnerable households, targeting individuals with NIN and BVN.
– Expansion of social security payments to include graduates holding NCE qualifications and above.
– Urgent establishment of Consumer Credit. A committee headed by the Chief of Staff, including the Budget Minister, Attorney-General, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance, has been tasked with making this scheme operational.
– To boost efficiency in the Federal service and trim governance costs, the council has decided to implement the Steve Oronsaye panel’s recommendations on the restructuring and rationalization of Federal agencies, parastatals, and commissions. This involves the consolidation, absorption, or elimination of entities with overlapping functions. The Oronsaye report, submitted in 2012, saw initial action with a white paper under the Jonathan administration and a second white paper by the Buhari administration in August 2022, though it was not implemented at the time. The Tinubu administration is now set to implement aspects of the report, with an eight-member committee given a 12-week deadline to facilitate the necessary legislative changes and administrative restructures.
Key actions for implementation include:
– Merging the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission with the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, pending constitutional amendments.
– Combining the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission with the Bureau of Public Enterprise into the Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission.
– Merging the National Human Rights Commission with the Public Complaints Commission.
– Dissolving the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), with its responsibilities transferring to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
– Combining NEMA and the National Commission for Refugees into the National Emergency and Refugee Management Commission.
– Transitioning the Border Communities Development Agency into a department within the National Boundary Commission.
– Merging NACA and NCDC.
– Incorporating SERVICOM into the Bureau for Public Service Reform (BPSR).
– Realigning NALDA under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
– Supervising a new agency by the Federal Ministry of Science, combining NCAM, NASENI, and PRODA.
– Unifying the National Commission for Museums and Monuments with the National Gallery of Arts into the National Commission for Museums, Monuments, and Gallery of Arts.
– Merging the National Theatre with the National Troupe.
– Combining the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and the Directorate of Technical Aid Corp under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with transitioning the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to an agency under the same ministry.
– Merging the Federal Radio Corporation and Voice of Nigeria into the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria.
– Creating the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA) by merging NABDA and the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology.
– Consolidating the National Institute for Leather Science Technology and the National Institute for Chemical Technology.
– Unifying the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
– Merging the National Metallurgical Development Centre with the National Metallurgical Training Institute.
– Incorporating the National Institute for Trypanosomiasis under the Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.
This list is not exhaustive.
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
