The Federal Government has approved the merging, scrapping and subsuming of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Federal Government in line with its policy of reducing cost of governance.
Hajiya Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, unveiled some of the merged, subsumed and scrapped MDAs at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday, February 26, 2024.
She said the decision was based on the Steve Oronsaye Report on civil service reforms inaugurated under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.
With the new arrangement, the Nigerian Army University in Borno State will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). The university will now functions as a faculty within the Academy.
Similarly, the Air Force Institute of Technology will also be merged with the Academy to function as the faculty of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Also, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission is to be merged with Bureau of Public Enterprise and be rechristened as `Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission.
The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria is to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria while the National Commission for Museum and Monuments is to be merged with the National Gallery of Acts.
She said the National Theatre is to be merged with National Troupe of Nigeria while the National Meteorological Development Centre is to be merged with the National Meteorological Training Institute.
National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) is to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health while National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is to be merge with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.
The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa will be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid and to function as a Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission is to be merged with Nigerian Export Promotion Council while the National Agency for Science and Technology and Science and Engineering Infrastructure is to be merged with National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation and the Project Development Institute.
The Special Adviser further said that the National Biotechnology Development Agency will be merged with the National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology.
She said the National Institute for Leather Science Technology will be merged with the National Institute for Chemical Technology while the Nomadic Education Commission will be merged with the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-formal Education.
On the agencies to be subsumed, Bala-Usman said the Service Compact with Nigeria (SERVICOM) will be subsumed to function as a department under the Bureau of Public Service Reform.
She said the Border Communities Development Agency will be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission.
National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission is to be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. The National Assembly will need to amend the constitution as RMAFC was established by the Constitution.
The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution is to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs.
The Public Complaints Commission is to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission while the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research.
The National Medicine Development Agency will be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development while the National Intelligence Agency Pension Commission to be subsumed under the Nigerian Pension Commission.
On the agencies to be relocated, the Presidential aide said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company to be relocated to the Ministry of Power while the National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA) to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Federal Ministry of Science to supervise a new agency that combines NCAM, NASENI, and PRODA.
The National Blood Service Commission will be converted into an agency and relocated to the Federal Ministry of Health while the Nigerian Diaspora Commission is to be converted into an agency and to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to be scrapped and functions to be taken over by Federal Ministry of Finance.
Bala-Usman said the President had constituted a committee that would work within 12 weeks, to ensure that necessary restructuring and legislative amendments needed to ensure full actualisation of these approvals were granted.
The committee comprises Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Justice Minister, Budget and Planning Minister, DG Bureau of Public Service Reform, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Special assistant to the president on National Assembly. The Cabinet Affairs Office will serve as the secretariat.
