The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, backed the move by President Bola Tinubu to implement the Oronsaye Report, saying, “being in opposition does not warrant blind and thoughtless criticism” Obi In a statement posted on his X handle yesterday, Obi said he had always been an advocate of the three critical components of the Oronsaye Report.
These he listed 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.” According to him, “I would like to refer everyone to my Manifesto and my response to similar questions during my campaigns. On October 5, 2022, at Harvard University, I was asked: ‘Will you implement the Oronsaye Report?’ and I responded in the affirmative. I went further to explain that implementing the report is one of the best ways to make governance efficient, cost-effective, and productive. Being in opposition does not warrant blind and thoughtless criticism.
Whenever the government takes the right decision, we should agree and if need be, propose related or even better ideas to move the nation forward. Although the implementation of the report is long overdue, its implementation is a welcome development so long as the decision is informed by these principles. Beyond implementing the Oronsaye Report, the government should go further and cut the cost of governance across the board. Having found it imperative to implement the Report, the government should now do away with the bogus and needless wastages of our scarce resources on frivolous issues and deploy such funds to the critical areas of education, health and pulling people out of poverty.”
