Former National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dele Oye, has urged the federal government to implement the Oronsaye Report without further delay, warning that the proliferation of more than 900 ministries, departments and agencies is costing the economy over 862 billion naira.
Oye, who chairs the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, said the continued growth in the number of government agencies despite repeated calls for consolidation has created overlapping mandates, duplicated regulatory functions and rising compliance costs for businesses. He recalled that the Steve Oronsaye committee, set up in 2012 to review federal parastatals and agencies, had recommended merging, abolishing or restructuring several bodies, with projected savings of about 862 billion naira between 2012 and 2015.
He said that although the government approved parts of the report in 2023, implementation has largely stalled while the number of federal agencies has grown past 900, discouraging investment and worsening the business environment. He cited the recent sealing of three milk factories in Onitsha by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as an example of the inefficiency created when multiple regulators exercise overlapping powers, noting that dairy manufacturers must separately satisfy agencies including the food and drug regulator, the standards organization, environmental authorities and local governments.
He said businesses are forced to deal with each agency independently, creating bureaucracy that raises costs and pushes many small firms into the informal sector, and argued that many agencies have shifted from regulatory oversight toward revenue generation, turning enforcement into what he called a profit center. He cited figures showing that 658 billion naira was deducted as the cost of revenue collection by government agencies in the first half of 2025, with deductions by major revenue bodies now exceeding total allocations received by several states.
Oye said Nigeria cannot expect meaningful private investment while maintaining an expansive regulatory structure with overlapping authority, noting that national development plans project more than 85 percent of the country’s investment needs will have to come from the private sector. He warned that excessive regulation is pushing businesses into the informal economy and weakening tax compliance, and called for full implementation of the Oronsaye Report as a credible existing blueprint for reducing the cost of governance.
