President Buhari set to reduce ministries fron 47 to 19

President Muhammadu Buhari is said to have
accepted the recommendation of the transition
committee to slash the number of ministries from
the present 42 to 19 with a view to saving cost
and making them more effective and responsive
to the needs of Nigerians.

Many of the ministries have also been merged to
ensure proper coordination of duties and ensure
greater efficiency and service delivery.

This development comes after three weeks of
consultations with international and Nigeria’s
political leaders
According to Vanguard, a presidency source said
that the number of Federal Government
departments and agencies had also been trimmed
in line with the policy of the administration.

Effectively, it means that no fewer than 50 of the
MDAs that were not backed by relevant laws
might be scrapped and their staff moved into
relevant departments to save cost.

The Presidency source hinted,”But the point being
made is that relevant MDAs that will exist under
the present administration must be those backed
by laws.

“What that means is that the era of doing things
the wrong way to please certain persons in
positions of power is over.”

Shedding light on some of the ministries that had
been merged, the official pointed out that the
Ministry of Aviation and relevant agencies had
been subsumed with Inland Waterways and
associated agencies.

Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture has been
merged with that of Water Resources under what
the Presidency source described as the
consolidation of larger ministries.

It was learnt that under the administration of
Buhari, only 19 ministers and 17 ministers of
state would operate as opposed to the previous
arrangement where there were at least 42.

It was further gathered that some ministries would
be run by senior ministers while others would be
manned by junior ministers to save cost.

On the fight against corruption, the source
disclosed to Vanguard that the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is to be
merged with the Independent Corrupt Practices
Commission, ICPC, to tackle graft in a new way
that would be prompt, fearless and decisive.

A top source also said Buhari was expected to
make some key appointments this week so as to
get the machinery of his administration running.

Source : Vanguard