Political Parties, Stakeholders, List Expectations As Senate Commences Screening Of Ministerial Nominees Today

As the Senate prepares to commence screening of President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominees, several political parties and stakeholders have listed their expectations of the red chamber.

Naija News reports that the President, through his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, had presented the list of the first set of ministerial nominees to meet the 60-day constitutional deadline.

The list contained 28 names, including four ex-governors, seven women, and youths, with a promise to send 14 more names from 11 states that are yet to be represented in the proposed cabinet.

A development has led the senate to postpone its yearly recess to commence today’s screening.

Speculations have, however, emerged that the delay in the submission of the list was deliberate to avoid any probe of nominees.

According to The Guardian, an investigation from the committee on Ethics and Public petitions on Friday indicated that no petition had been received against any of the 28 nominees.

Accordingly, the category of nominees to be screened on Monday (today) may not encounter petitions, an issue that had, in the past, denied many the opportunity of being confirmed as Ministers.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the party’s position on the list of nominees would be known within the week.

Spokesman of the party, Debo Ologunagba, who declined to make an official statement on the matter when contacted by The Guardian, said the party’s position would be disclosed within the week.

But a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, who pleaded anonymity, described the nomination as mere job opportunities for loyalists and political associates of the President.

He said: “Are you surprised about this? Were you expecting anything more? We know that the President must compensate his boys and others who ran around to perpetrate all sorts of irregularities in that election to ensure his emergence.

“The country’s comatose economy requires serious revolutionary steps to fix it; who among these nominees has that capacity?”

On his part, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Sylvester Ezeokenwa, noted that the ministers-designate ought to be familiar with the manifesto of the President, especially in finding solutions to the hardship in the country.

Ezeokenwa, who said his party had no issue with the caliber of the ministerial nominees, said it is during the implementation of their assignments that Nigerians would know whether they are fit or not.

Also reacting, the Founder of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has appealed to the lawmakers to allow the constitution to prevail.

Itodo said the lawmakers have the constitutional power to reject any nominee, so  “I hope they do so and not trade public interest with political interest.”

The Yiaga Africa boss said he was disappointed with the approach taken by the President “because we thought that this president would have done things differently, and I think it is a missed opportunity. What I mean in this case is attaching portfolios to the names. It is important; my expectation was, he was going to do something differently, given his antecedents, but it is a missed opportunity.

“They should also interrogate their leadership competence, their records. Some of these people who have been nominated know some of their antecedents, so they should ask them.

“I didn’t expect someone like El Rufai to have been appointed in view of the video that went viral over incendiary comments that he made. One expects the Senate would take this up during the screening.

“It is an opportunity for the Senate to either ask him to withdraw that or apologize for making those statements because it is actually an insult and a disregard for the sensibility of Nigerians.”

On his part, the former Spokesperson of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Chuks Ibegbu, added that appointing ministers without a strategic plan to rescue the country from the present predicament makes no sense.

“You may like to appoint any number of persons as Ministers, but without a strategic plan on how to cushion our current sufferings, you are making a great mistake. We need economic policies with a human face, and we need the right Nigerians to drive it. From what I have perceived from that list, most of the people there are there for political settlements. That means already, the plan is not to salvage the country. Some of the people there still have questionable scorecards, and these are people we have decided to recycle. It does not make any sense.

“We are, however, watching that with their appointment, they should hit the ground running by ending the current economic hardships, solving present insecurity, and giving the people hope again in their country.”