Anxious Serenity as Aviation Industry Braces for Oronsanye’s Report Implementation

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the immediate adoption of the Steve Orosanye Report, aiming for governance cost reduction.

However, the report’s recommendations may have stirred up subdued tension especially in the aviation sector as proposed mergers of certain agencies are giving stakeholders cause for worry.

Restless Tranquillity in Aviation:

The report  intends to merge the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) both service providers with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) a regulator  under what would be called Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA).

This recommendation, industry players argue, go against the International Civil Aviation Organisation regulations whose laws the country domesticated.

Some stakeholders feel the report must not be implemented as is but carefully reviewed so as not to erode over two decades of hard work. While others feel that having come out of a safety audit and with an upcoming ICAO Universal Security Audit Programme-Continous Monitoring Approach ( USAP-CMA) next month, a restructure of this magnitude may negatively affect the nation.

Why the Orosanye Report:

The report done in  2012, entailed the restructuring of government agencies, commissions, and departments, including mergers and relocations, aimed at enhancing efficiency and performance was submitted, but till date could not be implemented 

Making  the announcement, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris, said : “Now, what that means is that a number of agencies, commissions, and some departments have actually been scrapped, some have been merged, while others have been subsumed. Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries 

Key recommendations for implementation:

•  National Salaries, Income and wages Commission to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. The National Assembly will need to amend the constitution as RMAFC was established by the constitution.

• Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission to be merged with Bureau of Public Enterprise and be rechristened as `Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission

• National Human Rights Commission to swallow Public Complaints Commission

• Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate(PTAD) to be scrapped and functions to be taken over by Federal Ministry of Finance

• NEMA and National Commission for Refugees to be fused to become National Emergency and Refugee Management Commission

• Border Communities Development Agency to become a department under National Boundary Commission

• NACA and NCDC to be merged

• SERVICOM to become a department under the Bureau for Public Service Reform(BPSR)

• NALDA to return to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

•  Federal Ministry of Science to supervise a new agency that combines NCAM, NASENI and PRODA

• National Commission for Museums and Monuments and National Gallery of Arts to become one entity that will be known as National Commission for Museums, Monuments and Gallery of Arts.

•  National Theatre to be merged with National Troupe.

•  Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and Directorate of Technical Aid Corp to be merged under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to become an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Federal Radio Corporation and Voice of Nigeria to be one entity to be known as Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria

• National Biotechnology Development Agency(NABDA) and National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology to be emerged into an agency to be known as National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency(NBRDA).

• National Institute for Leather Science Technology and National Institute for Chemical Technology to become one agency.

• Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development to become one agency.

•  The National Metallurgical Development Centre and National Metallurgical Training Institute will be merged.

•  National Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed under Institute of Veterinary Research in Vom, Jos.

The list, according to the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, is not exhaustive.

12-Week Deadline:

An eight-man committee with a 12-week deadline will oversee legislative and administrative changes necessary for reform implementation.

The committee comprises Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Justice Minister, Budget and Planning Minister, DG Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special assistant to the president on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.