By Ighomuaye Lucky.O
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has said that president Bola Tinubu must show a high level of sincerity to Nigerians by telling them how much resources would be saved from the implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye’s Report.
He said this while reacting to President Tinubu’s recent directive for a full implementation of the Oronsaye-led committee’s report, resulting in a significant restructuring of government agencies.
While backing President Tinubu on this, he said that the implementation of the report should not be rushed because those who would directly be affected are mostly civil servants.
“We must not rush to implement the Oronsaye Report just because those that will be directly affected are mostly civil servants.
“A very deep understanding of the workings of the Federal bureaucracy will be required to effectively implement the report.
He also challenged other political leaders to back the implementation of the report.
“We, the political leaders, should be ready to back up such implementation with our sacrifices from comfort and selfishness, for the overall development of the nation.
“In implementing this Report, conscious effort must be made to cushion the effects of such a major overhaul on the workers, to avoid driving more people into hardship, in these very challenging times.
“Also Nigerians are yet to be informed about the extant White Paper pertinent to the report’s implementation. Moreover, you cannot ask those who are likely to be affected by the downsizing to manage the process.
“Government must also show clearly the amount of resources to be saved in the implied shrinking of government. It should also indicate clearly where and how the saved resources are to be redeployed.
“More importantly, the implementation needs to be accompanied by a template to avoid a future bloating of government.
“By doing the right things and implementing the right policies, we will build the New Nigeria of our dreams.”
In summary, Peter Obi urged the government to implement the right policies, showing a commitment to building the “New Nigeria” envisioned by citizens, with a focus on critical areas such as education, health, and poverty alleviation.
Recall that in 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan constituted the Stephen Oronsaye-led panel to identify inadequacies in the country’s civil service.
In 2012, the committee submitted an 800-page report and recommended the abolishment and merging of 102 government agencies and parastatals.
The committee on the white paper submitted its report in 2014.
Since the submission of the report, the recommendations have not been implemented.
On Monday, President Bola Tinubu directed the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.
The report revealed that there are 541 statutory and non-statutory federal government parastatals, commissions and agencies.