As Senate Screens Ministerial Nominees

Pinally, President Bola  Ahmed Tinubu, was able to beat the 60-day limit for the submission of the list of ministerial nominees just as the Senate was on its way to its first recess.

The list of 28 which is the first batch of the much-anticipated list of ministerial nominees was unveiled yesterday and it wasn’t so surprising after all as it contained some widely speculated names.

President Tinubu, was sworn in as President on May 29, and was required to submit his ministerial list to the Senate before July 29 as mandated by law.

Unlike before, the president could preside over the country as long as he wants, before constituting his cabinet. Former President Muhammadu Buhari could not form his cabinet six months after his inauguration, a first in the nation’s  recent political history.

Following this embarrassing scenario, the National Assembly amended the constitution to provide a  law mandating presidents to forward the list of ministers to the Senate within 60 days after inauguration.

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The 1999 Constitution stipulates that the President and governors must submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or the respective state Houses of Assembly.

However, as far as the ceremonies went, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamola, delivered President Tinubu’s list of ministerial nominees to the Senate in session yesterday afternoon.

Gbajabiamila was admitted into the Red Chamber at about 1.18pm to deliver the message after the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion for the presidential aide’s admission into the chamber.

The former Speaker delivered the list to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and thereafter exchanged pleasantries with some Senators and left the chamber at about 1.30pm.

The president also said that the list would be completed later.

Earlier in the day, the Senate had held a closed-door or executive session apparently to sort out some issues ahead of receiving the much-talked-about list of the ministerial nominees.

Although the list isn’t comprehensive, it offers a first real glimpse into what President Tinubu-led administration would look like. The prediction, especially by this newspaper, that the list will be a fair mixture of technocrats and politicians proved true so far, pending the unveiling of the remaining list.

However, as a newspaper, we had expected the president to present a  comprehensive list of ministerial nominees in  the light of the current socio-economic harsh realities.

We had thought that speculations over his cabinet would have ended after the long wait for this list.

However, all eyes are on the Senate now, whose responsibility it is to ensure the nominees are qualified to serve. The upper chamber is mandated to screen the nominees to determine among other things their suitability for the job.

For the better part of this democratic dispensation, the screening of ministers had been anything but inspiring.

While serving and former lawmakers appointed to serve as ministers enjoyed a certain “bow and go” privilege, awkwardly irrelevant questions have been asked to nominees, thereby  reducing the entire process to a puerile affair. Nigerians hope that will not be the case this time round as they expect the upper chamber to be thorough in the handling of this very important exercise.

We had expected that the president would have broken the cycle of not attaching portfolios to the nominees. Be that as it may and belated as it seems, we hope that future exercises will take care of this vital angle that would have enabled the senators to carry out a more satisfying duty of putting square pegs on square holes.

That said, all eyes are on the Senate now, whose responsibility it is to ensure the nominees are candidates with the requisite disposition to deliver on the mandate of the president and to the satisfaction of the long-suffering citizens of the country.

In the meantime, it is pertinent to point out the predilection of the Senate leadership to return the favours received from the President that led to their emergence. Regardless, we demand that the interest of the nation be put first. The senators must be made aware that this list of ladies and gentlemen, to a large extent, hold the key to the success or failure of this administration.

Therefore, in our opinion, nothing must be left to chance as the expectations are very high indeed.

Similarly, we are persuaded to commend the senate for disappointing Nigerians who had thought that, in their usual style, they would have put their interest first.

As the screening exercise commences in earnest, we make bold to emphasise that the era of bow and go or slap-on-the wrist questions are over. The task ahead for the new administration is too important to be slaughtered on the altar of political patronage. The economic and social  indicators portend a dire situation for the country as such the best hands must be brought on board.

The Senate must be brave enough to ask the right questions even if it’s on a general principle. They should be able to do their homework on the nominees and put them on their toes. Nigerians expect nothing less as they anticipate a break from the ugly past.