The Federal Government yesterday received the Draft White Paper on the Amal Pepple Committee Report on new Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions (PACs) created between 2012 and 2021.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, received the draft copy from the Ebele Okeke-led White Paper Drafting Committee.
He said: “It is important to note that the high cost of governance in Nigeria and revenue challenges being experienced in the midst of competing societal demands are of serious concern to the Federal Government.
“All necessary things would be done to ensure that no sector is neglected. I have no doubt in my mind that the knowledge, experience and expertise members brought to bear in the cause of the assignment would guide the Federal Government in addressing the high cost of governance and other associated problems.
“I am pleased to receive the report of the Ebele Okeke Committee that was constituted to draft a White Paper on the Amal Pepple Committee Report on new parastatals, agencies and commissions created between 2012 and 2021.
“This is a further demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to reposition the Public Service for effective service delivery,” Mustapha said.
Chairman of the committee and former Head of Service of the Federation (HoCSF) Ebele Okeke said the committee had “carried out content analysis of the legal framework setting up the PACs under review, analysis of their budgetary provisions for the period under consideration”.
She added: “The potential for the PACs to be self-funding over a reasonable period of time as well as access to international sources of funding technology to build up capacity and technical expertise to be self-sustaining were also considered.”
According to her, the committee “observed that the legal framework/enabling Act of some of the PACs did not clearly define structure, management and oversight.
Okeke added that “most of the laws used agency, commission and board inter-changeably”.
“For instance, where the organisation is defined as a commission, the provisions of the law did not support the structure of a commission. In this regard, where the committee recommended change in status/name, amendment of the Act/law is also recommended, accordingly,” she said.
The committee also observed that most of the agencies created (especially under Education and Health) were Bills that emanated from the National Assembly, and recommended that “it is important to engage and dialogue with the National Assembly to generate an understanding to streamline the creation of new PACs”.
The committee noted that some of the recommendations could be considered as low hanging fruits that could be implemented immediately after approval of the White Paper.
The Draft White Paper comprises three parts, with Part 1 dealing with introduction and Purpose; Part II shows the PACs, the Recommendations and Remarks of the Review Committee, Comments and Recommendations by this Committee for consideration of the Federal Government; Part III is the Implementation Plan and Key Performance Indicators.
The SGF had inaugurated the eight-member committee on Friday, July 1, 2022 to produce a Draft White Paper on the 2022 Report of the Committee on the Review of New PACs created since 2012 after the submission of the Report on the Restructuring and Rationalisation.