Moses Ofodeme
The Senate on Wednesday, October 7, recommended the outright scrapping of redundant agencies in order to save the cost of governance in the country.
This appeal was contained in a statement issued by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, during the presentation of the report of the joint committee on Finance and National Planning on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper by the Chairman, Solomon Adeola.
Lawan said he agreed with the submissions of Senators, that several agencies should be scrapped to save the nation’s economy.
He explained that most of the agencies have outlived their usefulness; since they were created to redress specific problems.
The Senate president said: “Many of the agencies were created to address specific challenges; as of the time they were created. They are now irrelevant and have become conduit pipes that we appropriate money to every year while adding no value to the nation again.
“We need to work with the executive arm of government on this. I know it will be a tough task; because some will argue that the exercise would lead to massive job losses. But we have to find a way out of the current situation; because the cost of governance is too high which the economy could not afford.
“It is not the reduction of the National Assembly budget that would reduce the cost of governance. There is no money in the Senate. Our budget is just about N128bn out of a national budget of N13trn.
“We cannot reduce the cost of governance just by reducing the cost of running the activities of the National Assembly. We need to have a holistic; practical; and realistic way of reducing agencies; and the cost of running those agencies that would survive.”