The House of Representatives has raised an ad-hoc committee to investigate the multiplicity of federal executive bodies and the attendant duplication of functions and the bickerings among their members of staff.
There are about 1,484 federal executive bodies currently in operation in the country.
Such bodies include agencies, departments, parastatals and boards the Federal Government established to perform sundry duties.
But, the House said on Wednesday that functions of many of the bodies overlapped, resulting in underperformance and bickerings in the long run.
It resolved to investigate such duplications within six weeks by setting up an ad-hoc committee to handle the assignment.
The resolution came from a motion on notice moved by the Chief Whip, Rep. Mohammed Tahir Monguno.
He noted that considering the huge budgetary allocations made to these bodies annually, the investigation should unearth the relevance of some of them and possibly recommend merging a good number for better productivity and results.
The motion, which secured a unanimous voice vote to pass at the plenary, presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, reads, “The House notes that Section 153(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) established certain Federal Executive Bodies and Section 4(2) of the 1999 Constitution empowers the National Assembly to repeal obsolete laws and enact new ones for the good governance of the Federation.
“Aware that Nigeria has been gaining on the world index of Ease of Doing Business (EDB) rising from the 145th position in 2019 to 131st in 2020, hence there is a need to consolidate on this improvement.
“Worried that with the existence of about 1,484 agencies, departments, boards, parastatals and corporations in the country with the attendant duplication of functions and clash of interests, there is a likelihood of the latest World Bank annual ratings to slide considerably.
“Believes in the need for stock-taking and reviewing the functions of all government agencies.
“Resolves to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to (i), investigate duplication of duties, overlapping functions and counter-productivity of established agencies, departments, boards, parastatals and corporations in the country.
(ii) Ascertain root cause analysis of the regular bickering among some established agencies, departments, boards, parastatals and corporations in the country.
(iii) Establish areas of mergers, synergies and justification of the existence of some established agencies, departments, boards, parastatals and corporations, which are no longer needed in the country and report back within six (6) weeks for further legislative action.”
