Nigerian Senate Wednesday commenced screening of the 43-man ministerial picks sent to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari for confirmation. The Senate screened 10 nominees out of the 43 sent by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday. Among the 10 were three former senators and a serving member of the House of Representatives.
Those screened included Sen. George Akume (Benue), Sen. Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Sen. Olurunimbe Mamora (Lagos), and Rep. Emeka Nwajuiba (Imo). Also screened were Uchechukwu Ogah (Abia), Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra), Adamu Adamu (Bauchi), Dr Ogbonaya Onu (Ebonyi), Olamilekan Adegbite (Ogun), and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the exercise, described the performance of all the nominees who appeared before the Senate as “impressive”. He also announced that the exercise would continue on Thursday and listed those to be screened to include Sen. Tayo Alasoadura (Ondo), Mustapha Shehuri (Borno), Retired Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (Kano), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti) and Timipre Slyva (Bayelsa). Also to be screened on Thursday are Mrs. Ramatu Tijjani (Kogi), Mohammed Abdullahi (Nasarawa), and Sunday Dare (Oyo).
However, as the first nominee, Ikechukwu Ogah from Abia State was being screened, a senator representing Abuja Federal Capital Territory, Philip Aduda, raised a constitutional point of order at the start of plenary to kick against the exclusion of FCT in the appointments.
Aduda noted that the constitution stipulates that the FCT be treated as one of the states and each state shall have at least one minister. He urged the Senate to pass the message across to the executive as no nominee from FCT was appointed. Dino Melaye, a Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial district, expressed worries about the same issue. He said the matter is a constitutional point of duty, not an appeal by the Senate.
Three of the 10 nominees screened so far took a bow without being asked any question. Those asked to take a bow were former Senators and a serving member of the House of Representatives. They include former governor of Akwa Ibom state and former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio; former governor of Benue state and ex Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, and a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Emeka Nwajuaba.
The fourth nominee, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah (Abia), who was the first to be screened, was however subjected to serious drilling, answering about 20 questions bordering on the economy and the oil sector from many Senators. Senate President Ahmad Lawan had said in the course of the screening exercise that the Senate will sustain its standing tradition of asking former Senators and House members who are ministerial nominees to take a bow and leave the chambers without entertaining any question.
Sen. Akpabio, one of the ministerial nominees who took a bow later said, he will do his best in any portfolio assigned to him by President Buhari. Akpabio, the nominee from Akwa Ibom, expressed his readiness to work with the president in taking Nigeria to the next level in agriculture and industrialisation.
Lawan announced the list of ministerial nominees by President Buhari, who was sworn in for a second term over two months ago. To speed up the screening exercise, the Senate postponed its annual recess for a week. Buhari listed former ministers such as Chris Ngige, Hadi Sirika, Rotimi Amaechi, Adamu Adamu, Mohammed Adamu, Babatunde Fashola and Lai Mohammed among the ministerial nominees but did not include their proposed portfolios.
Others in the list are Uche Ogah, Emeka Nwajuiba, Sadiya Farouk, Musa Bello, Godswill Akpabio, Sharon Ikeazor, Ogbonnaya Onu, Akpa Udo, and Adebayo (Ekiti). Also, Timipre Sylva, Adamu Adamu, Shewuye (Borno), Isa Pantami, Gbemi Saraki, Ramatu Tijani, Clement Abam were also declared as part of the nominees. Paullen Tallen, Abubakar Aliyu, Sale Mamman, Abubakar Malami, Muhammed Mamood, Rauf Aregbesola, Mustapha Buba Jedi Agba, Olamilekan Adegbite, and Mohammed Dangyadi.
Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adeyeye Adedayo, assured Nigerians that the senators will do a thorough job in screening the ministerial nominees.
“Plenary normally does not hold on Fridays, plenary will hold on Friday this week and Monday next week in other to hasten the process. We want to do a thorough job and we want Nigerians to know that we are doing a thorough job,”
Adedayo said at a press conference in Abuja. He said the postponement of the Senate’s annual recess was a sacrifice by the lawmakers to ensure the conclusion of the ministerial screening. Unlike his first term when he appointed only 36 ministers, one per each state, President Buhari nominated more ministers, adding one person from each geo-political zone which brought the total ministerial nominees’ to 43. Anambra, Bauchi, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara and Lagos states got two ministerial nominees each. Of the six geopolitical zones, only the northwest got two extra slots.
