From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, commenced a probe of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over duplication of functions.
The speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, while inaugurating the ad-hoc saddled with the probe, charged the panel to ascertain the root cause of regular bickering between MDAs, as well as establish areas of possible merger and synergy.
Gbajabiamila noted that a situation when multiple agencies carry out the same functions leads to duplication of efforts and waste of hard-earned government resources and time.
According to him, “in the coming days, this committee will investigate duplication of duties, overlapping functions and counter-productivity of established agencies of government in the country.
“Ascertain the root cause of regular bickering among some established Departments, Agencies, Boards and Parastatals in the country.
“Establish areas of mergers, synergies, and justification of the existence of some of the established government agencies.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Victor Danzaria, said the panel became necessary, following a motion adopted by the House, in March, on the duplication of functions by MDAs.
Danzaria noted that “the subject matter has been a thorn in the flesh of previous governments. This concern came to a peak in 2011 with the establishment of the Orosanye Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Government Parastatals, Departments and Agencies.
“It is important to note however that, our task is different from that of the Orosanye Committee. Whereas their major concern was to reduce the cost of governance, ours is to streamline, merge and, if need be, scrap some in order to bring about efficiency.
“Mandate overlaps and duplication of functions of government agencies has led to policy incoherence, breeds inefficiency and redundancy as well as inter-agency conflicts.”