Ministers: Senate To Screen Tinubu’s Nominees Monday
The Senate will, on Monday, commence the screening of the ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Bola Tinubu on Thursday.
Speaking shortly after the names of 28 nominees sent to the federal lawmakers were read on the floor by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), said the Upper Chamber had suspended all its activities to commence the screening immediately.
Adaramodu said, “Screening will commence on Monday. We have suspended all the rules to accommodate the screening of the nominees.
“We were supposed to proceed on our vacation today (Thursday) but it has been suspended for this screening. We are starting the screening on Monday. We are not going to allocate time to nominees to talk.
“We will start by 11am on Monday and other days at 10am. We are ready to sit all day to screen them, with no limitation of hours. We won’t even time them. We would listen to them reel out their blueprint to us. The screening would be done in the presence of Nigerians.”
Akpabio, at plenary, unveiled the list consisting of 28 nominees.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajamiabila, delivered the list to the Senate President.
Prominent people who made the list are former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike (Rivers), former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), and former Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi (Ebonyi).
Others are the acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abubakar Kyari (Borno); the party’s women leader Beta Edu (Cross River); Deputy Chief Whip of the Ninth House of Representatives, Nkiruka Onyejiocha ( Abia); a lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, (Kwara); and the President’s Special Adviser on Media, Strategy and Special Duties, Dele Alake, (Ekiti).
Also, contained in the list is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Adebayo Adelabu (Oyo); former Minister of State, Health, Ali Pate, (Bauchi); and Senator John Eno, (Cross River).
The rest are Abubakar Momoh (Edo); Ambassador Yusuf Maitama, (Bauchi), Ahmad Dangiwa (Katsina), Hanatu Musawa, (Katsina), Chief Uche Nnaji, (Enugu), Doris Aniche (Imo), Mohamed Badaru (Jigawa), Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom), Olubumi Tunde-Ojo, (Ondo), Stella Okotete, (Delta), Uju Ohanaeye (Anambra) and Bello Goronyo, (Sokoto).
Mohammed Idris (Niger), Olawale Edun (Ogun), Imman Suleiman (Nassarawa), Joseph Utsev, (Benue) and Sani Danladi ( Taraba) also made the 28-man list.
Having read out the names, the Senate referred the list to the Committee of the Whole.
Although the constitution prescribes that the President shall appoint at least a minister from each of the 36 states of the federation, the list sent by the Tinubu contained names of nominees from 25 states, leaving out 11 states.
The states not yet covered are Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara.
Meanwhile, Bauchi, Cross River and Katsina states got two slots each.
Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila said Nigerians should expect the naming of new ministries as President unveils another list of 13 ministerial nominees “in the coming days.”
“Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way that you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before,” the Chief of Staff to the President told State House Correspondents hours after he submitted the ministerial list to the Senate.
Explaining how the names on the list emerged, Gbajabiamila said, “Mr President took his time to sift through those names. He dissected those names with a fine-tooth comb.
“That’s what you have seen. Everyone, I believe, of the persons on that list is worth being on that list.
“But I hope we haven’t missed anything that would have necessitated any name not being on that list.”
He explained that the names were sent to the Senate without specific portfolios attached to give the President enough flexibility to decide who handles what portfolio.
He said, “I like the idea of attaching portfolios because it makes it necessary for the Senate to know exactly what you’re asking and looking for.
“As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the President to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other. What happens if he changes his mind? Do you then bring the person back for screening again? This is because the President is at liberty to change his mind.
“But for now, it’s been thought wise that we stick to the tradition of sending the names and then while the screening processes are going on, it allows Mr President and his team to look at the portfolios and the characters and see how they fit.”
Gbajabiamila explained that President Tinubu is sure that all the nominees can “fit in anywhere” except for specialised offices such as the Attorney-General.
On the remaining nominees, he said the “12 or maybe 13 will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.”
He revealed that the cabinet should be fully formed and functioning within the next two weeks.
“Work should start in earnest for them in the next week or two because I don’t see the Senate wasting too much time in the confirmation, not because they’re not going to do a thorough job, they will do a thorough job.
“But they will balance it with the knowledge that in this time that we are in, time is of the essence.”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Timothy Osadolor, described the ministerial list as an average collection of people who do not have what it takes to make a difference in the life of the nation.
Speaking specifically on the inclusion of Wike on the list, Osadolor, Osadolor, a member of the PDP National Executive Committee, said members of the party were not surprised.
He added that Wike merely confirmed the claim in many quarters that he offered himself as a tool in the hands of a rival party to work against the PDP in the 2023 elections.
He said, “To those who are not members of the PDP, they may be surprised but we (members of the party) are not. We wish him well and hope he does not end up eating those he has elected to join as he did to the party that brought him into the national limelight.”
On the capacity of the nominees to deliver on expectations, Osadolor said the bulk of the men chosen by the President “are at best average,” adding that no one should expect them to give what they don’t have.
“Who on the list can you refer to as a goal-getter apart from maybe two or three? They are at best, average collection of former this and former that. We honestly don’t know what they have to offer Nigerians,” he added.
His position however contrasted with that of the New Nigeria People’s Party whose spokesman in the 2023 presidential election, Johnson Ladipo, urged Nigerians to give the ministerial nominees the benefit of the doubt.
He said, “Some of them are well known and we believe Mr President has confidence in them. We hope they get to work soon and based on their experiences, I think Nigerians can be hopeful of good days ahead.
