Overlapping Agencies : Reps set to scrap, merge agencies

The House of Representatives has inaugurated an adhoc Committee that will commence investigation on the duplication of functions by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government (MDAs).

The lawmakers had on March, while adopting a motion sponsored by the Chief Whip, Hon. Tahir Monguno resolved to look into the matter. Monguno had while moving the motion said there were about 1,484 agencies, departments, boards, parastatal and corporations in the country, which gave rise to duplication of functions and clash of interests.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who inaugurated the committee on Wednesday stated that the aim is to reduce cost of governance, end bickering and prevent redundancy.

He explained that in the coming days members of the Committee will investigate these overlapping functions, and counter-productivity of established MDAs, and establish areas of mergers, synergies, and justification of the existence of some of the established MDAs, Boards, and Corporations.

He urged the MDAs and other critical stakeholders to work with the Committee to complete its mandate in accordance with its Terms of Reference.

“Notably, the House of Representatives is not out to witch-hunt any individual or organization, but we are propelled by our desire to ensure good governance and in the exercise of our legislative oversight powers as enshrined in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

“This Committee is expected to come up with solutions to the apparent continuous conflict of functions and avoidable bickering among established Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s), resulting in ineffectiveness, inefficiency and redundancy in the government workforce. The Committee is therefore expected to engage relevant stakeholders and members of the public with a view to resolving the areas of conflict among the MDA’s, which may require amending some laws and/or outright repeal, as the case may be,” Gbajabiamila said

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the adhoc Committee, Hon. Victor Mela-Danzaria, said most of the laws establishing government agencies were made during the military regime and are not in tandem with democracy.

He assured Nigerians that the committee would conduct a detailed investigation into the activities of some of the agencies and come up with a report that would have far-reaching decisions that would strengthen the agencies.