Edo govt justifies rationalisation of MDAs, says exercise aims at saving cost

The Edo State Government, on Thursday, justified its Wednesday decision to prune down on the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying the exercise was aimed at cutting down the cost of governance without compromising efficiency.

It added that at the end end of the exercise, the government would have cut down, considerably, expenditures by at least 25 per cent without any recourse to downsizing the state’s workforce.

Explaining the policy during a press interaction session in Benin, the Head of Service, HOS, Mr Athony Osas Okungbowa, who spoke on behalf of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr Osarodion Ogie, explained that it had become imperative to run a leaner and more effective government given the downward economic trend in the country and the constant drop in the Federation Account.

He, however, assured that no single servant would be retrenched as a result of the exercise, stressing that the policy was necessitated by the need to eliminate waste and duplications in the system.

“The whole essence of this rationalisation was to ensure efficiency and then reduction in the cost of governance. You know that right now, it is increasingly difficult in term of funding activities of the government.

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“Mr Governor normally says we used to as a state government go and collect salary (allocation) from Abuja. But this is increasing non-existence because the money we used to go and collect is no longer there anymore.

“We have to begin to look inward now because we cannot afford a bogus government with a bogus structure,” Okungbowa said.

The Edo HOS reiterated that the number of the MDAs in the state had now reduced from 105 to 72, more than 25 per cent increment; while ministries had been reduced to 18 from the previous 22 structures.

This, he said was expected to translate to the same percentage in reduction of the cost of governance.

The fallout of the rationalisation exercise is the merger of some ministries, such that the state now has: Ministries of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning; Mining and Energy; Youth and Gender; Social Development and Humanitarian; Local Government, Community and Chieftancy Affairs; and Business, Trade and Cooperative.

Others are Ministries of Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, and Development; and Digital Economic, Science and Technology.

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