The Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, has warned against any move to implement anything outside recommendations of the Stephen Oronsaye report on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.
They reminded the implementation committee that they were only given a mandate to implement the white paper and not to add or subtract, warning that any attempt to doctor the report would not achieve the desired objective.
It would recall that former President Goodluck Jonathan had set up a commission to advise the government on restructuring and rationalization of Federal Government parastatsls, commission and agencies with the objective of determining areas of overlap and duplication of functions, among others.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration had on Monday 26th February 2024, said it resolved to implement the Oronsaye report which called for a leaner government by merging some agencies and scrapping some others.
In the committee’s recommendation, some agencies under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology were recommended to be merged but the Projects Development Institute, PRODA, Enugu, was recommended to stand alone.
However, there are claims that some top government functionaries want to merge PRODA with other agencies contrary to the committee’s recommendation.
Reacting to the alleged move to doctor the recommendation of the committee on PRODA, the president of Ndigbo Youth Council, Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, told journalists in Abuja, that such action would be counter productive.
He insisted that the recommendations should be implemented to the letter, adding that since inception PRODA has not been given the desired attention.
He said “If given the necessary support, PRODA will be in the interest of the country, as it will take the nation’s technological advancement to the next level.
“They tend to forget that PRODA is not serving Igboland but the nation, and has been clearly positioned to take research and development to another level. Nigeria is a nation that totally depends on importation without producing anything, and it is the bane of the economy. Under such circumstances, an agency like PRODA deserves all the attention and funding it can get.
“A little look into history shows PRODA was a creation of the defunct East Central State government. It was created through an edict in 1971. It was charged with the broad function of generating and catalyzing industrialization by carrying out industrial research from the laboratory stage to the pilot plant stage and by rendering consultancy services to the government, industries and individuals. PRODA is one of the oldest research institutions under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.”
He advised the implementing committee not to bow to any pressure to doctor the document, pointing out that PRODA is an agency that deserves adequate attention.
He also expressed the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Worldwide of their total support to president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He called on the President Bola Tinubu’s administration to dismiss the compromised version of the Oronsaye Report and adhere to the original recommendations outlined in the Secretary to the Government of the Federation’s letter.
He also accuses those behind the doctored report of having ulterior motives and emphasizes that PRODA serves the nation as a whole, not just a particular region.
