Oronsaye Report ‘ll save Nigeria N860bn, says Okebukola

Prof. Peter Okebukola

Former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola, has urged the Federal Government to implement the Stephen Oronsaye Committee report, noting that it can save Nigeria N860 billion in two years.

Okebukola, who disclosed this during the 2013/2014 University of Lagos, UNILAG, Convocation Lecture held yesterday, described government’s recurrent expenditure as haemorrhage, insisting that there was need for urgent implementation of the Oronsaye report.

Delivering a lecture on Taking Advantage of a Depressing Nigerian Economy to Accelerate Socio-Economic Development, he said: “Inflated contracts cost Nigeria N569 billion at the Federal level and N350 billion at the state and local government levels in seven years.”

Recall that in 2012, the Federal Government set up the Oronsaye Committee to look into measures for streamlining operations of its various organs for efficient service delivery.

The report suggested a reduction of the size of government to a manageable level, considering that over 70 percent of resources were channelled into running a government that is unduly large and cumbersome to manage, leaving less than 30 percent for issues such as debt servicing and execution of capital projects.

According to the report, reducing the size of government has become imperative given that a large government has inevitably led to stunted development and a very high level of poverty in the country.

Suggestion for Buhari

The former NUC scribe, however, suggested that the incoming administration of General Muhammad Buhari(retd) should prune down public spending on governance by 45 percent.

Decrying the level of corruption and wastage in the economy, he suggested a benchmark of $45 per barrel of oil for the next two years.

VC speaks

Meanwhile, UNILAG’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rahaman Bello, has called on managers of the nation’s university system to serve as catalyst toward repositioning of the nation’ s economy.

In his opening remark, Bello charged the university community to lend a deliberate helping hand as the nation earnestly awaits the assumption of office of the President-elect, Buhari.

He lamented that the task becomes a bit challenging in a situation where the system is poorly funded, assuring that the institution remains poised to move beyond the nation to being number one university in Africa.

Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Akeem Bello, represented by an alumnus of the university and President Alumni Association, Oloeigun Sunny Kuku, said the nation’s economy, despite being rated number one in the continent, remains a depressed one.

He commended work done by the outgoing government, imploring the incoming administration to work hard and make the economy more vibrant.