The Daily IIJ

By Nuruddeen M. Abdallah
The Federal Government plans to spend nearly one and a half trillion naira this year to run hundreds of agencies, most of them having duplicated responsibilities, many of them obscure and others moribund, Daily Trust investigations have shown About N1.455 trillion is allocated in the 2012 budget to the 426 Federal agencies, departments, commissions, institutes and other bodies, even as government says it was planning to cut spending this year.
Most of the Federal agencies have duplicated roles, dozens hardly do anything apart from keeping the red tape long, while a large number of them overstayed their statutory duties.
There are also little-known agencies, ostensibly performing some roles when in reality such duties are no longer being executed by government.
Also on the list are companies that no longer manufacture but continue to guzzle Federal funds in yearly subventions.
The Federal Government last year raised a committee headed by former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Steven Oronsaye, to merge or trim government agencies and commissions, but the panel is yet to present its full recommendations.
Ministries with the highest number of such agencies are Agriculture, Health, Education, Science & Technology, Mines & Steel, Water Resources, Culture & Tourism and Trade & Investment.
Many of the 426 agencies are useful, like the teaching hospitals, but majority of the rest mostly give advice or exist to undertake research whose results are not noticeable.
Nigeria has commissions for complaints, refugees, salaries and wages, human rights, utility charges, population, fiscal responsibility and federal character.
It also has agencies for automobiles, tourism, museums & monuments, gallery of art, lottery trust fund, lottery regulation, and poverty eradication.
The Federal Government also has research institutes on cereals, root crops, palm oil, cocoa, rubber, veterinary, animals, horticulture and produce inspection.
Most of these research institutes are either moribund or are neglected and peopled by inefficient civil servants.
There are also institutes for fresh water fish, fishery and oceanography.
Apart from the duplicated institutes, for instance, there are about three colleges of fresh water fisheries in New Bussa, Baga and Lagos. This does not include dozens of institutes and colleges for animal science, land, plants and others.
Daily Trust learnt that among the Federal research institutes are those that outlived their purposes but are still there gulping public funds.
In the same vein, Nigeria has about 24 “business incubator centres” spread across the country. It has institutes and centres for electronics, engineering designs, space science, generic and biotechnology, building and roads, natural medicine, hydraulic equipments, space transports, basic space, technology management, satellite technology, technology acquisition, power equipment, science laboratory and so on.
President Jonathan last month pledged to continue with the plans to reduce such bodies so as to save much needed funds for development activities. Last week, Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke also hinted that government may have to cut jobs in the process of trimming the number of these agencies.
But if the 2012 budget is passed before such cuts, the about 38 research institutes, agencies and commissions under the Ministry of Agriculture would gulp N30 billion this year.
The Health ministry has about 200 of such agencies with over N200 billion budgeted for them in 2012.
Petroleum ministry has six of such agencies/institutes with N56 billion earmarked for them in this year’s budget. The intelligence community, comprising of four agencies under the office of the National Security Adviser, would spend N65 billion this year.
Also, about 30 of such research institutes and commissions in the Education ministry will spend over N100 billion in 2012. Under the Presidency, 10 commissions will spend N25 billion.
Interior ministry has six of such agencies and plans to spend N155 billion this year, the Justice ministry has nine and has earmarked N20 billion for them; Information has nine and will spend N24 billion; Works has six and would spend N42 billion; Power has five and will spend N54 billion; Mines and Steel has nine and has budgeted N13 billion for them.
Defence ministry’s 14 bodies would gulp N302 billion; Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) has 19 and has earmarked N60 billion for them; Water Resources has 18 and will spend N22 billion for them; Aviation with five has budgeted N10 billion; Youths Affairs with only two will spend N72 billion; Communication and Technology has five and will spend N14 billion.
Last year, the Oronsaye committee held closed door meetings with each Federal agency. Sources said so many of these bodies could be scrapped going by the findings of the committee.
But no date has yet been publicly given for the submission of the committee’s report, and none for the start of implementation of the cuts.