Nigeria’s house of representatives on Tuesday revealed that many government parastatals are operating without necessary legal backing thereby unnecessarily increasing the cost of governance.
The lawmakers made this known when Heads of some government agencies appeared before the panel investigating the duplication of functions of agencies of government to defend the basis of their existence.
They noted that the existence of about 1484 agencies, departments, boards, parastatal and corporations in the country, gave rise to the duplication of functions and clash of interest.
The lawmakers further gave a hint that the panel will be exploring possible means of merging some of the agencies found to be carrying out duplicating functions.
Appearing before the committee, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture Olusegun Runsewe also agreed that there can be a merger between his agency and some existing parastatals to guarantee efficiency in their operations.
The panel entertained 5 parastatals from the Ministry of information, culture and tourism which includes the Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Council for Arts and Culture , National Gallery of Art, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation and the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism.
Editor:Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie
