There are indications that President Muhammmadu Buhari will any moment send his list of Ministers to the Senate, which has the Constitutional responsibilities to screen and confirm Ministerial nominees.
The President has been under severe pressures to forward the list to the National Assembly.
But Villa sources had blamed the delays on the inability of the Senate to constitute its principal officers, especially the election of the Senate Leader whose responsibility it is to announce such requests from the President.
BusinessDay Villa noted that the President had on Monday invited the two Senior Special Assistants in charge National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang who is in charge of Senate and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters( House of Representatives) Umar Yakubu to a closed door meeting
The meeting Businessday gathered was summoned ahead of today’s resumption of National Assembly which reconvenes, for full legislative business.
The All Progressive Congress APC Senate caucus is expected to kickstart its activities by electing its principal officers, including the Senate Leader, amongst others who will run its affairs fir the next four years.
Section 142, subsections (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended gives the President powers to create Ministries and nominate persons for the post of a Minister of the Government of the Federation, who in turn have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Subsection (3) of the Constitution makes it mandatory however, that every state must have a Minister.
Subsection (3) states that “Any appointment under subsection (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of this Constitution:- provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each State, who shall be an indigene of such State.
This is just as subsection (6) gives the Senate 21 days to confirm the nominees, declaring that “An appointment to any of the offices aforesaid shall be deemed to have been made where no return has been received from the Senate within twenty-one working days of the receipt of nomination by the Senate.
BusinessDay gathered that although the list is ready, the President has kept the names of nominees as a top secret.
