Next week Monday has been set as the starting date for the Senate’s screening of the ministerial nominees submitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
President Tinubu forwarded a list of 28 ministerial nominees to the red chamber on Thursday, seeking their screening and confirmation.
Notable figures among the nominees include Nasiru El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna state; Nyesom Wike, former governor of Rivers state; Wale Edun; Adebayo Adelabu; Betta Edu; Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who serves as the lead counsel to President Tinubu in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition Tribunal; Muhammed Badaru, former governor of Jigawa state; and Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Communication and Strategies. Muhammed Idris, the Blueprint publisher, is also among the nominees.
The ministerial list was brought into the chamber by the Chief of Staff to President Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila and was presented to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio in plenary.
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Among the 28 ministerial nominees submitted 6 were women and 4 are former governors. They are Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State, David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State.
President Tinubu in the letter read by the Senate President, assured the red chamber that the remaining 16 nominees would be sent to the Senate later in the month.
Meanwhile, briefing journalists after the plenary, the Senate Spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu said the Senate has suspended its annual recess to attend to the ministerial nominees screening exercise.
He said the screening exercise this time around will be thorough and it will not be just ‘bow and go’.
According to him “the 10th senate will “scrutinize the character, personality and the ability of every nominee.
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“Thorough screening for anybody who will be minster entails he/she must have ideas about everything, but in core specialties like health, judiciary, yes the minister must be a professional”.
“The character of the nominees must carry the resume, but we will not manufacture questions and allegations against anyone”.
He advised that now that the names of the nominees have been read out, anyone who has anything against them like petitions can channel such to the right quarters in the Senate .
On allegations of some nominees like former governors with EFCC cases, Adaramodu said all the nominees have gone through security screening checks from the executive.
He said “however, if there is any red flag raise we will look into it, re- emphsising that Nigerians will never be disappointed by the Senate as “the team will bring oxygen”.
Senator Adaramodu said “although the Senate is not supposed to sit on Mondays, but because of the importance attached to this national assignment, we have suspended all our rules for them to commence the exercise next Monday”.
Meanwhile, about five states are yet to be represented in the ministerial nominees list, the states are Lagos, Adamawa, Kogi Anambra and Bayelsa.
The missing states are expected to have their nominees in the second batch promised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.