Dele Oye: Nigeria’s Over 900 MDAs Costing Economy N862bn, Hurting Investment

Ex-NACCIMA president seeks  implementation of Oronsaye report

Faults N658bn retained by revenue agencies as cost of collection

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and 

Former National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Dele Oye, has called on the federal government to immediately implement the Oronsaye Report, warning that the proliferation of more than 900 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is imposing over N862 billion costs on the economy.

Oye, who is Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE), said the continued expansion of government agencies, despite repeated calls for rationalisation, had created overlapping mandates, duplicated regulatory functions and increased compliance costs for businesses.

In a statement, he recalled that the Steve Oronsaye Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, inaugurated in 2012, recommended sweeping reforms, including the merger, abolition and restructuring of several agencies, with projected savings of about N862 billion between 2012 and 2015.

According to him, although the federal government approved aspects of the report in 2023, implementation has remained largely stalled, while the number of federal agencies has risen to over 900, discouraging investment and worsening Nigeria’s business environment.

He argued that the proliferation of agencies has transformed regulation into a major burden for businesses, citing the recent sealing of three milk factories in Awada, Onitsha, by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as evidence of the inefficiencies created by multiple regulators exercising similar powers.

Oye noted that manufacturers are often required to comply simultaneously with the regulatory requirements of the FCCPC, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), environmental agencies, local governments and other institutions.

“In Nigeria, a manufacturer producing dairy products does not face one regulator; they face a constellation. NAFDAC demands product registration and facility inspection. SON demands standards compliance and certification. The FCCPC demands consumer protection compliance. Add the State Environmental Agency, Local Government trade licences and perhaps the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), and you have a recipe for paralysis,” he said.

According to him, businesses are forced to satisfy multiple agencies, each acting independently, creating unnecessary bureaucracy that raises compliance costs and pushes many small businesses into the informal sector.

“The ancient wisdom captured in the proverb ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ has never been more apt. When three different federal agencies have the statutory power to seal a single factory, we are no longer talking about regulation. We are talking about an administrative circus where the performer is the private sector,” he added.

Oye further argued that many government agencies had shifted from their core regulatory responsibilities to revenue generation.

“This proliferation of agencies has created a perverse incentive structure that turns regulators into predators. Many MDAs have morphed from protective regulators into aggressive revenue generators. When agencies justify their existence by the fees, levies and fines they collect, enforcement becomes a profit centre,” he said.

He cited figures showing that N658 billion was deducted as the cost of revenue collection by government agencies in the first half of 2025, noting that the deductions by agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) now exceed the total allocations received by several states.

“This is not regulation. This is legalised extortion. We are so focused on extracting revenue from the private sector that we are destroying the very engine that generates that revenue,” he stated.

Oye maintained that Nigeria could not expect significant private sector investment while maintaining an expansive regulatory structure with overlapping jurisdictions and multiple levies.

He stressed that the National Development Plan 2021-2025 acknowledged that more than 85 per cent of the country’s investment requirements would have to come from the private sector, arguing that the existing regulatory framework was undermining that objective.

The past Chairman, Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN), warned that excessive regulation was encouraging businesses to remain outside the formal economy, thereby weakening government oversight and reducing tax compliance.

Calling for decisive action, Oye urged the federal government to fully implement the Oronsaye Report, insisting that the country already possesses a credible blueprint for reducing the cost of governance and creating a more efficient regulatory environment.

“The question is not whether reform is possible. The question is whether Nigeria’s leaders have the courage to pursue it,” he said.

Oye added: “The private sector is bleeding. Investors are fleeing. Informal economic activity is exploding. And yet, we continue to add more agencies, more fees, more complexity. This is not governance. This is slow-motion economic suicide.”