The Senate on Thursday approved the appointment of Aliyu Abubakar, as a non-executive commissioner on the board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Abubakar, from Bauchi State, was nominated last week by President Muhammadu Buhari for the same position despite his rejection by the Eighth Senate because of low educational qualifications.
The Senate also confirmed the appointment of the others namely: Uba Maska from North West reappointed as Executive Commissioner, Millionaire Abowei from South South as Non-Executive Commissioner and Abdulazeez Mohammed Salman from North Central as Non-Executive Commissioner.
Just like what happened in 2016, Abubakar nomination faced stiff opposition on the grounds that his nomination was rejected in the Eighth Senate for having a low educational qualification of a Diploma.
The Peoples Democratic Party member representing Adamawa South, Binos Dauda Yaru, raised an objection to Abubakar ‘s nomination.
Yaru said he became interested when he discovered that the nominee would represent his geopolitical zone and decided to find out some information about him.
He said, “I goggled his name and what came out was what happened in the Eighth Senate.
“Since the nominee has not acquired additional qualification since then, so, i now wonder what makes him qualified.
“The North East has no representative on the board of the NCC since 2016 that the nominee was not confirmed.
“Other nominees on the board are eminently qualified. We have a professor, and Masters Degree holders among them.
“All what my reapresentative possess is a diploma and I wonder what has changed between 2016 and now.”
Yaru was however ruled out of order by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who said the Senate would rely on the report of its committee.
He insisted that the committee had cleared Abubakar for meeting the requirements of appointment into the board of the commission.
The confirmation followed the recommendation of the Adhoc Committee on the Screening of Presidential Nominees that screened the nomination nominees into the governing board of the NCC.
Presenting the report, its chairman, Senator Teslim Folarin (APC,Oyo) said that President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded names of the nominees for Senate confirmation in accordance with section 8(1) of the NCC Act.
He said the committee after scrutinising the resume of the nominees and carrying out checks on their activities and satisfied that they have no record of indictment , recommended that the Senate do confirm their appointments.
Also, the Senate also confirmed the nomination of Habu Galadima, a Professor, for appointment as the substantive Director General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
