The Federal Government, on Friday, inaugurated a white paper committee, to review the parastatals, agencies and commissions created since 2014.
The newly inaugurated committee is headed by former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Engr. Ebele Okeke, with other members including two retired Permanent Secretaries; Ibukun Odusote and Mustapha Suliaman.
Others are Ernest Umakhihe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Mahmuda Mamman, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health; Hassan Musa, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture; and Mr. Dasuki Arabi, Director-General, Bureau for Public Service Reform as the Secretary of the committee.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government had in November 2021, inaugurated two sub-committees on the implementation of the whitepaper on the restructuring of ministries, departments and agencies to reduce the cost of governance, chaired by former heads of service of the federation — Bukar Aji, Amal Pepple and Oladapo Afolabi.
The second committee was to review new parastatals, agencies, and commissions created after the submission of the report on restructuring.
Speaking at the short ceremony in Abuja on Friday, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said the committee had six weeks to submit a report so the process of implementation can begin after approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The SGF explained that the federal government had been concerned with increasing costs of governance, especially with revenue challenges in the country, which led to a number of efforts to address the situation.
He said: “One of such efforts, was the constitution of the Committee on the restructuring and rationalization of federal government parastatals, commissions and agencies on the 18th of August 2011. Chaired by the former head of service, Mr. Steve Oransaye.”