UPDATED: Ministerial nominees will be out this week – Lawan

The much-awaited list of ministerial nominees will be out before the end of the week, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has revealed.

Lawan stated this on Wednesday following a Point of Order moved by Bassey Albert Akpan on the need to urgently ask President Muhammadu Buhari to forward the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

According to him, lawmakers have expressed readiness to sacrifice their time to screen the nominees when forwarded to the upper legislative chamber.

“This is to inform this Senate that the Executive arm of government is working very hard to get the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate. And I can imagine that before this week runs out, we could get the list. But I want to assure you that once we get the list, every senator here has shown and expressed the desire to stay long enough to screen and confirm ministerial nominees in the interest of this country for the country to be taken to the next level,” he said.

Earlier, rising under Order 43 of the Senate Standing Orders which deal on Personal Explanation, Akpan said there was a need for the Senate President to urge President Buhari to forward the list of ministerial nominees on time as the National Assembly would soon embark on annual recess.

This, he explained, was to avoid putting lawmakers under undue pressure, especially if the President decided to forward the list on the eve of their recess.

He said: “We understand the passion of Mr President to consolidate on the gains that he has so far attained. If we are going on this long vacation in two weeks, and by now, we have not received the ministerial nominees, it means we will have to put ourselves under intense pressure, ecause it is our collective responsibility that we must support Mr President to succeed.

“I am just bringing to the attention of Mr President that there is need for you to please urge Mr President to send in the list of ministerial nominees so that the Senate can confirm them immediately”.

Nigerians have expressed concern over the delay in submitting ministerial list, about six weeks after President Buhari was sworn in for a second term and about five months after winning the 2019 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the Senate has set up a seven-man committee to screen President Buhari’s nominees for the positions of Non-Executive Commissioners of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) as well as Director General of National Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan who presided over the session, mandated the ad hoc committee headed by Teslim Folarin to submit its report by next Tuesday.

The individuals nominated as NCC Non-Executive Commissioners are: Aliyu Abubakar, Millionaire Abowei, Abdulazeez Salman and Uba Maska, while Habu Galadima is the nominee for NIPSS DG.

Although Lawan had earlier referred the screening to Committee of the Whole, Deputy Senate Chief Whip, Sabi Abdullahi, moved a motion, urging the upper legislative chamber to rescind its decision and refer same to an adhoc committee.

The motion was adopted and Lawan immediately announced the membership of the committee.