Kwara State Government has pruned ministries in the state civil service to 16 from 19 inherited from the past administration, saying the measure is to cut cost and strengthen efficiency in service delivery to the people.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Harriet Afolabi-Oshatimehin, who stated this during a press briefing yesterday, said the state executive council ratified the merger of some ministries and creation of one other at its maiden meeting held before the budget presentation by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
Afolabi-Oshatimehin was joined at the briefing by her colleagues from the Ministry of Health, Dr Raji Razaq and Ministry of Tertiary Education, Mrs Sa’adatu Modibbo-Kawu.
She said the old Ministry of Culture and Tourism had been collapsed into the Ministry of Information and Communications to form a wholesome Ministry of Communications, while the Ministry of Industry and Solid Mineral as well as and that of Commerce and Cooperatives had been merged to become Ministry of Enterprise.
“The old Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and Ministry of Finance are now Ministry of Finance and Planning, while the former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has been collapsed into the Ministry of Works and Transport,” she added.
Afolabi-Oshatimehin said the council also ratified the creation of the new Ministry of Special Duties.
The old Ministry of Environment and Forestry is now known as Ministry of Environment, while the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is now to be known as Ministry of Social Development.
She said the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Justice, Energy, Water Resources, Education and Human Capital Development, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Sports and Youths Development, Health, and Tertiary Education would bear their existing appellations.
She commended the governor for walking his talk on women inclusion in governance.
“What we are trying to do here is to ensure efficient service delivery and judicious allocation of resources to ensure that at the end of the day, we are able to improve the welfare of Kwarans.
“Now, how do we go about this? Council agreed on the need to cut cost because a lot has to be done with limited resources,” she said.
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