President Bola Ahmed Tinubu got a thumbs-up on Wednesday from the presidential candidate of the Labour Party during the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, for the decision to implement the Oronsaye Report on Civil Service reforms
Obi expressed his support for Tinubu’s decision while responding on his X handle to several questions from his followers who wanted to know his stand on the issue.
The LP presidential candidate recalled that he had made known his intention to implement the Oronsaye Report in his manifesto during his presidential campaign at Harvard University on the 5th of October, 2022.
“Implementing the report is one of the best ways to make governance efficient, cost-effective, and productive”, he said, adding that being in an opposing party should not warrant “blind and thoughtless criticism whenever the Government makes the right decision.”
Obi identified the three major critical components of the Oronsaye report to include: “Drastically cutting the cost of governance; Eliminating the overlapping of responsibilities to ensure that responsibilities are appropriately domiciled, and increasing efficiency and effectiveness, which will increase productivity.”
While noting the benefits of implementing the report for Nigeria, the former Anambra governor advised the government to take extreme caution during the implementation as it would “have a direct effect on civil servants”, and that “a very deep understanding of operations of the Federal bureaucracy will be required to effectively implement the report.”
Obi said the government must be ready to handle the effects of its decisions and provide solutions to prevent more people from plunging into poverty.
Obi also urged the government to cut down the cost of governance and eliminate the bogus and needless wastage of scarce resources.
He stressed that more money should be used to tackle critical issues and areas including education, health and bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.
President Tinubu had on Monday directed that the Oronsaye Report be implemented.
Some agencies and parastatals of government will cease to exist when the report is fully implemented.