FG Says No Funds to Finance, Establish New Agencies

The Federal Government has disclosed that it had no funds to finance the establishment of another or more agencies in Nigeria, as the existing ones were already too many.

This was revealed at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies consultation session to review the proposed draft of the Creative Industries Development Bill in Abuja.

Speaking at the consultation session, the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, said while the government would continue to support the creative industries, it would not support the creation of additional agencies because it lacked funds for such.

He observed that there were two key parts of the proposed bill, as the first had to do with the establishment of the commission, while the second was on the provision of an enabling environment.

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“Personally, and the office that I currently head, will not support, on any condition, the establishment of yet another agency of government. We have for long maintained that in this sector right now, there are too many agencies,” he stated.

Akabueze added, “And we have maintained that this sector needs to harmonise and streamline these agencies, so that we stop dissipating resources and focus on growth.

“Therefore, the much I have seen in this bill, there is nothing here that one of these agencies, even if it requires an amendment, cannot be amended to take on board. We will not be supporting the establishment of another agency.

“We don’t have the financing, and this is a consistent position that we have taken for a while. Many of you have heard about the famous Orosanye Report and for about 10 years now we’ve put it aside.”

He said the government did not only have a committee working on the implementation of the Orosanye report, but had inaugurated another committee reviewing the additional agencies that had been established since the Orosanye report.

The Nigeria Creative Industries Development Bill, 2023, seeks to establish a Creative Industries Development Commission and provide an enabling environment for the creative industries in Nigeria and other related matters.