Oronsaye Report: No one should panic
Although, I am yet to meet anyone who has seen the ‘White Paper’ on the report of a panel headed by Steve Oronsaye, a former Head of Service of the Federation to rationalize government organizations, the media has disclosed the release of such a 105-page document. With proactive investigative journalism aided by our new law on freedom of information, why not get the details; I asked myself? I was honestly not excited about that because history teaches me that in Nigeria, an official document called ‘White Paper’ is by tradition a “stereotype”- something that takes the same pattern all the time. However, it is good to hear from the media that government has approved Oronsaye’s recommendation to among other things merge three aviation agencies - the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. The three agencies are to fuse into a new body to be known as the Federal Civil Aviation Authority while their respective enabling laws would be amended accordingly to reflect the merger.
Expectedly, those who imagine that they could be adversely affected by the development have already developed high blood pressure. One version suggests that over 7,500 various cadres of aviation workers may soon be thrown into the labour market. The workers have thus begun subtle moves through their various unions and professional bodies to resist the issue. I doubt if the tension is worth the while because no Nigerian Government has the political will to sacrifice political patronage. There is in earnest nothing in the Oronsaye report that is new just as government reaction to the report has revealed no departure from past practices. There is therefore no need for anyone to panic because the issue would once again take the same pattern that we experience regularly with fuel shortage-a little while there would be long queues that would fizzle out the way they emerged.
In any case why should people fear when we have had panels upon panels whose reports are never implemented? Apart from the recent ones, we have had that of: Mbanefo 1959, Morgan 1963, Adebo 1971, Udoji 1972-4, Dotun Philips 1985, Ayida 1994, and Joda 1999; to mention but a few. In spite of all of these, Nigeria has not been able to follow international best practices in the management of governance. All she does is to set up panels whose reports are never implemented. For instance, to brainstorm just our Police issue alone, we have in the last two decades had no less than eight different panels. The one chaired by a former Inspector General of Police, M.D. Yusuf in 2008 produced a report with 125 recommendations. Not having done anything of note with the recommendations, it appears that we have, as a nation, developed a purposeless penchant
Elsewhere, aviation will
not qualify to have a full Ministry in a nation that also has a Ministry
of Transport since aviation is only a form of transportation. But here, it is in order just as we have a Police Service Commission (PSC) and a Ministry of Police Affairs
for setting up panels as if the mere setting up of a panel can on its own, reform an issue. In other words, our governments have been doing the same thing while expecting different results making it clear that for now, a new panel is not the issue.
We are aware however that government has since publicised its plan to implement the latest ‘White Paper’. According to Labaran Maku, our Information Minister, President Jonathan has already directed the constitution of a special committee for the purpose. Unfortunately, the assignment has been passed to both the Secretary to the Government and the Head of Service of the Federation which suggests that it might be business as usual. The office of the Secretary to Government has in particular used bureaucracy to undermine such reform initiatives in the past. Therefore, no one should be surprised if the subject is ‘minuted’ from one table to the other to ‘treat’, ‘handle’, ‘deal’ ‘discuss’ or the notorious ‘for necessary action’ (‘fna’). This culture of foot-dragging is encouraged by the existence of a long list of officials who have no specific duties and are thus engaged in the transmission of purposeless messages. Indeed, the high degree of lethargy in our bureaucracy is so endemic that when the Oronsaye committee was set up, it could not obtain official copies of previous reports of similar Committees set up by Government because they could not be traced!
But we do remember that some 14 years back, the panel headed by Ahmed Joda had a well-considered report. Among other things that panel had recommended and Government had accepted in a ‘White Paper’ that some Parastatals and Agencies should either be scrapped, commercialised, privatised or selffunding. Regrettably, many of such affected bodies are till date, allegedly still receiving full government funding, which runs into billions of Naira. It stands to reason therefore that there is no need to panic because there is no evidence that government would act differently this time around. Aviation workers for instance need not fear because unlike other nations of the world where big government is no longer in vogue, we are still comfortable with a convoluted government and a bloated aviation sector.
Elsewhere, aviation will not qualify to have a full Ministry in a nation that also has a Ministry of Transport since aviation is only a form of transportation. But here, it is in order just as we have a Police Service Commission (PSC) and a Ministry of Police Affairs. The nation would have saved costs without a Ministry which duplicates the functions of the PSC. But in our country we are not likely to take such a step that would reduce the number of bodies which exist just to award contracts. So, why should our aviation bodies worry? If it is because of the revelation that one of their Agencies-the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority had 253 Assistant General Managers, that is not a big deal in Nigeria. After all, the Board of Directors of the National Film and Video Censors Board alone had 54 members. What those who are worried should note is that in our own democracy, proper lobbying of legislators; can legally increase “overnight” the strength, powers and functions as well as the budget of an organization in Nigeria