13 months after President Bola Tinubu reaffirmed his commitment to implementing the Steve Oronsaye Report, the government continues to expand rather than streamline.
Development Diaries reports that despite multiple administrations recognising the importance of the report, its implementation has remained elusive.
The 800-page document advocates reducing the number of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in different ministries.
The staggering increase in the number of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) from 541 in 2012 to 1,316 in 2025 is not just a case of bureaucratic inefficiency, it is a blatant disregard for fiscal responsibility at a time when millions of Nigerians are drowning in multidimensional poverty.
And unfortunately, the very government that pledged reform has instead grown the number of ministers to a record-breaking 48, further bloating an already overburdened system.
Meanwhile, wasteful expenditures continue, with billions misallocated to agencies for projects outside their mandates, as evidenced by BudgIT Nigeria’s analysis of the 2024 budget.
Cost of inaction
Nigeria’s economic sustainability is on the line. The 2024 budget exposed how ₦624 billion was allocated to 2,558 projects that had no relation to the core functions of the agencies implementing them.
For instance, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) received five billion naira to procure official vehicles for traditional rulers, while the Nigeria Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research was allocated ₦2.32 billion for road construction. For the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, in Akwa Ibom State, it was given ₦500 million for boreholes.
We cannot afford to let another administration pay lip service to governance reform while Nigerians suffer.
The Federal Executive Council must commence the scrapping and merging of redundant agencies to cut wasteful expenditure. No new agencies should be established until the existing ones are streamlined.
Also, the National Assembly must halt the insertion of unrelated projects into agency budgets and ensure strict adherence to their mandates. We either choose the path of responsible governance or continue down the road of economic decay.
Development Diaries calls on President Tinubu to fulfil his promise by implementing the Oronsaye Report now. Cut down the waste, merge redundant agencies, and redirect public funds to where they are needed most – infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social welfare.
Photo source: Bola Tinubu
