President Bola Tinubu has rejected the Oronsanye Report’s recommendation to combine the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, made this announcement at the NCAA’s 25th anniversary celebration in Abuja. After reading the study and putting safety and expansion in the aviation industry first, Tinubu took this decision. In order to maintain economic restraint, the government set a restriction on publicly sponsored international travel, which Keyamo also emphasised the sector’s exemption from.
Because aviation plays a vital role in safety and international compliance, Tinubu approved exceptions to the overall ban for aviation officials. The minister commended the advancements in aviation, including enhancements in rules, air traffic control, airport growth, weather forecasting, and accident investigations. He emphasised that NCAA had persevered through numerous difficulties, including previous attempts to combine it with NAMA, and characterised it as a robust organisation. The present government finally rejected the merger proposal from the Oronsanye Report, which had been contemplated by other administrations, following extensive consideration.
The Oronsaye Report encountered major implementation issues.
Under the direction of Stephen Oronsaye, a former Head of the Federation’s Civil Service, the Oronsaye Report, formally known as the “Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies,” was officially launched on August 18, 2011. The committee’s main goal was to evaluate and simplify the several federal agencies in order to cut down on duplication, improve efficiency, and stop the rising expense of Nigerian governance. The 2012 report included 541 federal government parastatals, commissions, and agencies, both statutory and non-statutory, many of which had overlapping duties.
It suggested that 38 agencies be eliminated, 52 be merged, and 14 be returned to ministry departments. A leaner, more effective Public Sector that would save money and enhance service delivery was the expected result. The Oronsaye Report encountered major implementation issues in spite of its thorough recommendations. The absence of political will was a significant obstacle, as succeeding administrations were hesitant to implement the suggested reforms, presumably as a result of bureaucratic inertia and opposition from special interests that stood to gain from the status quo. Legal restrictions were another issue because many agencies were created by National Assembly acts, which meant that any institutional modifications required legislative amendments.
There are differing views on the Oronsaye Report’s implementation.
Potential job losses, the difficulties of merging or dissolving organisations, and this legal obstacle all contributed to the protracted delay. When President Bola Tinubu ordered the Oronsaye Report to be fully implemented in February 2024, he rekindled the conversation. The objectives of this order were to improve operational efficiency, cut down on governance expenses, and get rid of redundant work in the public sector. In addition to moving four agencies to different ministries, the government announced plans to eliminate two organisations, combine thirty agencies, and absorb nine under already-existing ones.
To carry out these decisions, a 10-member committee was established with a 12-week mandate. The viability of this schedule, however, has drawn criticism from experts, particularly in light of the complexity of bureaucratic reform and the requirement for legislative changes. There are differing views on the Oronsaye Report’s implementation. Streamlining agencies, according to supporters, will improve public service delivery, cut down on bureaucratic bottlenecks, and result in significant cost savings. Former presidential candidate Peter Obi, for example, endorsed the action, highlighting the necessity of removing duplications and allocating resources as efficiently as possible.
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Furthermore, the decision by President Tinubu to exempt specific industries from the report’s recommendations is a noteworthy milestone in this regard. According to the Oronsaye Report, the aviation industry—which includes organisations like the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)—was originally scheduled for mergers. But according to Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation, these organisations would continue to be independent. By keeping these organisations independent, we can make sure that safety and aviation standards are upheld and that the industry continues to draw in capital and knowledge.