Headline
FULL LIST: Agencies That May Be Scrapped Based On Oronsaye 800-page Report

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.
As a result, the government announced the merging, subsuming, scrapping, and relocation of several agencies.
In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan established the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies, with Mr. Steve Oronsaye as the Chairman.
Coming from a private sector background, Oronsaye transitioned into the civil service at a senior level and ascended to the position of Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Submitted in 2012, the Oronsaye report highlighted the existence of 541 Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies, both statutory and non-statutory.
The 800-page report recommended the reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping 38 agencies, merging 52, and reverting 14 to departments in different ministries.
A previous investigation by The PUNCH found that the Nigerian government has the potential to save more than N241bn if the recommendations are put into action.
READ ALSO: 20 Insights Into Oronsaye Report As EFCC, FRSC, Others Set For Merger
Below is a list of some of the agencies that may be scrapped if the Oronsaye report is fully implemented as ordered by President Tinubu:
One of the key suggestions in the report is the consolidation of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission into a single agency.
Additionally, the report recommended the elimination of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, with their responsibilities being incorporated into the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
The Salaries and Wages Income Commission is likely to face a similar fate..
38 Federal Agencies were recommended for abolition, including the Public Complaints Commission, National Poverty Eradication Programme, Utilities Charges Commission, National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, National Intelligence Committee, and more.
National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS be merged as a Department under the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health.
The merger of National Emergency Management and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Tinubu Orders Full Implementation Of Oronsanye Report
The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa be abolished and its functions, along with those of the Technical Aids Corps, transferred to an appropriate Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Infrastructure Concessionary and Regulatory Commission be subsumed in the Bureau of Public Enterprises for greater synergy and their enabling laws amended accordingly.
It was suggested that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and the Nigerian Metrological Agency should be combined into a new entity called the Federal Civil Aviation Authority, with their laws adjusted to accommodate the merger.
The committee suggested merging the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to enhance resource management and utilisation.
The committee suggested repealing the enabling law of the National Commission for Nomadic Education and transferring the Commission’s activities to the Universal Basic Education Commission.
The National Council of Arts and Culture will combine with the National Theatre and the National Troupe to form a single organisation.
READ ALSO: Peter Obi Knocks Tinubu Over Arrest Of BDC Operators
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure be merged with National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization and Project Development Institute
The committee suggested that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission be abolished, with the government focusing solely on offering consular services and vaccinations to prospective pilgrims.
The Nigerian Communications Commission, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and the regulatory functions of the Nigerian Postal Services were recommended by the committee to be merged.
The National Information Technology Development Agency to be fused into the Ministry of Communication Technology
Nigerian Television Authority, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria & Voice of Nigeria into the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria.
The Nigerian Army University to be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy; to function as a faculty with the the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Air Force institute of Technology also to function as faculty within Nigerian Defence Academy.
Debt Management Office to become an extra-ministerial department in the Federal Ministry of Finance Public Health Department to return to the Federal Ministry of Health
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Council was recommended to merge with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to enhance resource management and utilisation.
One important recommendation from the committee was to stop providing government funding to professional bodies and councils. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the Professional Bodies (Special Provisions) Act of 1972, which requires the government to offer financial assistance to these organisations.
The list comprises various professional councils and boards in Nigeria, such as the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Council of Nigeria, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, Nigeria Press Council, Architects Registration Council, Council for Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Estate Surveyors’ Registration Board, Town Planners Council, Nigerian Builders Council, Quantity Surveyors’ Registration Board of Nigeria, and Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists.
Headline
China, US Agree To Resume Trade Talks

China and the United States agreed on Saturday to conduct another round of trade negotiations in the coming week, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to avoid another damaging tit-for-tat tariff battle.
Beijing last week announced sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.
Trump had also threatened to cancel his expected meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
In the latest indication of efforts to resolve their dispute, Chinese state media reported that Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges” during a Saturday morning call, and that both sides agreed to hold a new round of trade talks “as soon as possible”.
On social media, Bessent described the call as “frank and detailed”, and said they would meet “in-person next week to continue our discussions”.
READ ALSO:Nigeria, China Strengthen Ties On Marine, Blue Economy Devt
Bessent had previously accused China of seeking to harm the rest of the world by tightening restrictions on rare earths, which are critical to everything from smartphones to guided missiles.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also participated in the call, according to the report by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Hours before the call, Fox News released excerpts of an interview with Trump in which he said he would meet Xi at the APEC summit after all.
Trump told the outlet that the 100 percent tariff on goods from China was not sustainable.
“It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is… They forced me to do that,” he said.
READ ALSO:PHOTOS: Xi, Putin, Kim At Beijing Parade As China Flaunts Military Might
The high-level video call came as Washington worked to rally Group of Seven finance ministers in response to the latest Chinese export controls.
For now, the G7 ministers have agreed to coordinate a short-term response and diversify suppliers, the EU’s economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Washington.
Speaking after the grouping met this week, Dombrovskis noted the vast majority of rare earth supplies come from China, meaning that diversification could take years.
“We agreed, both bilaterally with the US and at the G7 level, to coordinate our approach,” he said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s fall meetings.
Countries would also exchange information on their contacts with Chinese counterparts as they work out short-term solutions, he added.
READ ALSO:India Test-fires Ballistic Missile, Capable Of Reaching All Of China
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told journalists he hopes that Trump and Xi’s meeting can help to resolve much of the US-China trade conflict.
“We have made it clear within the G7 that we do not agree with China’s approach,” he added, referring to the group of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva also expressed hope Friday for an agreement between the countries to cool tensions.
The US-China trade war reignited this year as Trump promised sweeping tariffs on imports soon after returning to office.
At one point, US-China tariffs escalated to triple-digit levels, effectively halting some trade as businesses waited for a resolution.
The two countries have since lowered their respective levies, but their truce has remained shaky.
AFP
Headline
Morocco Jails Student One Year Over Gen Z Protest

A student arrested during Morocco’s youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.
The case marks the first publicly known prison sentence linked to the kingdom’s Gen Z demonstrations, which have been held near-daily between late September and last week to demand social and political reforms.
The student was charged with “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information”, lawyer Mohamed Nouini said.
“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” he added, arguing that sit-ins did not require authorisation as per a Supreme Court precedent.
READ ALSO:Why Wike Is Always Attacking Peter Obi — Obidient Movement
The lawyer said his client was arrested on September 30, three days after the protests erupted in the North African country.
According to a report by news website Hespress, citing another lawyer, the student’s arrest was “an unfortunate coincidence” as he was in Casablanca for a family visit.
The other lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the judge the student had “not insulted” police nor provided false information, telling them he “was just a student”, according to the report.
Hundreds were arrested during the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations.
READ ALSO:CAF Champions League: Replicate Ivory Coast Success In Morocco, Alli Charges Edo Queens
Some cities had seen spates of violence and acts of vandalism, while authorities have said three people were killed by police acting in “self-defence” during clashes in a village near Agadir.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said roughly 550 people are facing prosecution on suspicion of joining the protests, with some still in detention.
The organisers of the online-based movement behind the nationwide protests, the GenZ 212 youth collective, remain unknown.
READ ALSO:Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US
The collective has called for “peaceful sit-ins” on Saturday and demanded the release of those arrested during the demonstrations.
The protest came after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir.
But protesters have also demanded reforms to the education system and a change of government.
AFP
Headline
Trump Refiles $15bn Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times

US President Donald Trump has refiled a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, court documents show, weeks after it was thrown out by a federal judge.
Trump has intensified his long-established hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, and the suit is one of numerous attacks against news organizations he accuses of bias against him.
The Times’ complaint was thrown out in September because District Judge Steven Merryday took exception to its florid writing, repetitive and laudatory praise of Trump, and its excessive 85-page length.
The suit filed Thursday in Florida and seen by AFP runs to less than half the length, at 40 pages.
READ ALSO:Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent
It takes aim at “false, defamatory, and malicious publications”, highlighting a book and two Times articles.
The lawsuit named the newspaper, three Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants.
It accuses them of making defamatory statements against Trump “with actual malice.”
“The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation, which he painstakingly built for decades” before entering the White House, the lawsuit says.
READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal
The court was asked to grant compensatory damages of not less than $15 billion and additional punitive damages “in an amount to be determined upon trial.”
Trump’s attacks on media outlets have seen him restrict access, badmouth journalists critical of his administration, and bring lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.
In July, Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion after it reported on the existence of a book and a letter he allegedly sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News’ flagship show “60 Minutes” for $16 million the same month. He had alleged that the program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.
AFP
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