Some ministerial nominees have rolled out their plans for the country if confirmed as ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office.
The nominees who were grilled on Wednesday for over six hours, answered questions within and outside their respective fields as well as national issues.
At the end of the session, 10 nominees were screened. They include: Uchechukwu Ogah (Abia), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), George Akume (Benue), Emeka Nwajuaba (Imo), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi), Adeleke Mamowora (Lagos), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Olamilekan Adegbite (Ogun), Adamu Adamu (Bauchi) and Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra).
Speaking during his screening, Ogah tasked the Ninth National Assembly to carry out the reforms embedded in the Petroleum Industry Governance (PIGB) Bill to unlock its huge potential to economic growth.
The reforms, he explained, were capable of creating more jobs and revenue that would catalyse the country’s economy.
He pointed out that passing the bill would open the window for more jobs for Nigerians.
“Once the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill is passed, it will help the economy in ensuring that investors will come into the country. And once they have guaranteed crude oil. It is like building a house and nobody comes in there. So it is very difficult for people to put their money when they know that there is no source of crude to use in operating their refineries,” Ogah, a major player in the oil and gas industry, told lawmakers.
BusinessDay reports that the bill is one of the oldest in the nation’s legislature, having been first introduced by late President Umaru Yar’Adua to the Sixth National Assembly in 2008.
In 2018, global extractive industry watchdog, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) had disclosed that Nigeria loses N3 trillion annually for failing to put in place a proper legislation for the oil and gas industry.
Coming at a time when Nigeria is tagged the poverty capital of the world, with some 94 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty, according to Brookings Institution and 2,877 firms shutting down in just four years due to weak economy, Ogah stressed the urgency of passing the bill, adding that this will provide massive employment for the teeming population.
The proposed law, which was conceived to liberalise the governance structure of Nigeria’s oil industry and passed by the Eighth National Assembly, was rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari on the grounds that, among other reasons, it would whittle down his power as minister of petroleum resources.
On the inability of the nation’s four refineries to function at optimum capacity, Ogah said: “I can assure you that if given the opportunity, the four refineries in Nigeria need to work. Because we have done it in the private sector and I can tell you that it is something that is possible because you get people to do what you want to do. Our refineries can work because what we need is the will power”.
The nominee from Abia State also threw his weight behind the official exchange rate of N305 to $1 even as he called for diversification of the economy, with emphasis on agriculture.
He also made a case for ‘guided deregulation’ of the petroleum downstream sector.
“There is no country that allows its currency to be fixed. Every currency is usually being floated. If you decide to deregulate the Nigerian petroleum sector, especially the downstream, it must be a guided deregulation. In the since that you don’t allow everybody to dump on us because there will be an impact on our foreign exchange. So, we must guide our currency because our ability to guide it is what makes it go up and go down. If we had in the past grew our foreign reserve, I can tell you our currency wouldn’t have gone the way it is today. I believe that with what is going on, the Nigerian naira at the price which it is today, is okay for the nation,” he added.
Speaking during his screening, Adegbite, a former Commissioner for Works in Ogun State, called for early budget presentation to curb the issue of delayed approval of the national budget.
He cited what happened in Ogun State for eighth years when he served there when the budget for the state was presented in the second Tuesday of November during the time he served in the state.
The architect also stressed the need for continuity of projects by successive governments.
To curb incessant strikes in the nation’s tertiary institutions, the immediate past Minister of Education, Adamu, disclosed that a fund had been set aside to settle outstanding allowances for academic and nonacademic staff of public tertiary institutions. He, however, failed to disclose the amount.
BusinessDay reports that while nominees who are former lawmakers were asked to take a bow and go in line with its parliamentary tradition, others without legislative experience were grilled.
The screening exercise which began peaceful at 11am suddenly turned sour when the former Transportation Minister, Amaechi, entered the red chamber to take his turn for the screening.
Lawan was, however, quick to remind his colleagues about the convention and policy of granting automatic confirmation to nominees who had been elected into the National Assembly in the past.
He said: “We have agreed on a policy on how we go about the screening, I just want to reiterate that policy and to say that we will extend the privilege to members of the legislature even at states level”.
Occasional shouts of disapproval were heard from senators each time Lawan tried to explain the issues.
Former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje, disclosed that the rule never recognized those who had served in State Houses of Assembly as part of people to be given automatic confirmation.
In a swift response to Goje’s point of order, Lawan said there is nothing wrong in granting automatic confirmation to former State lawmakers even if the Senate Rule did not allow it.
Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who was recognized to speak on behalf of the Minority, asked Lawan to permit the Senators from Rivers State to ask Amaechi some questions.
Lawan, again, rejected Abaribe’s request as he insisted that the policy and convention of granting automatic confirmation to nominees with legislative backgrounds at State level is valid.
As he tried to persuade Senators to allow Amaechi bow and go without going through the rigour of screening, more Senators shouted no! no!! no!!!.
Abaribe later informed the Senate President that all the Senators from the Minority Caucus including those from Rivers State had asked him to convey some messages to Amaechi.
According to Abaribe, among the items contained in the messages from Rivers Senators to Amaechi is the issue of the controversial neglect of the Eastern axis.
Abaribe also made it clear that the Nigerians are not happy that while some parts of the country was suffering from infrastructural decay, the Federal government is extending projects like railway line construction to foreign countries.
The Minority leader said: “I want to make a comment on my good friend who is another donation from the PDP having been 8 years speaker of Rivers House of Assembly under PDP, 8 years Governor of PDP and chairman of Governors Forum of PDP. So now that we know that he has his DNA in PDP.
“I only want to State that I have spoken to the Rivers State caucus and they have asked me to pass this message to you, that they expect that you will be minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which Rivers State is part of which also means that whatever you can do as minister of federal Republic of Nigeria in making sure that peace is sustained and maintained in Rivers State, that you should please do.
“Let us also expect from you that the Nigeria railway would be done within Nigeria before extending to other countries”.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
