Those awaiting the release of ministerial list this week may have to wait much longer, as indications have emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to forward his list of cabinet members to the Senate for confirmation.
Contrary to the assurances by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, that the ministerial list would get to the upper legislative chamber this week, this was not the case on the last day of legislative sitting on Thursday.
Confirming the development in a chat with journalists after plenary Thursday, Senate spokesperson, Dayo Adeyeye, said the upper legislative chamber was not in receipt of the ministerial list.
Nigerians have expressed concern over the delay in submitting ministerial list, six weeks after President Buhari was sworn in for a second term and about five months after winning the 2019 presidential election.
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According to the Senate spokesperson, senators were anxious to work on the ministerial nominee list, adding that this depends solely on the Executive constitutionally mandated to transmit the list.
Fielding questions from journalists, Adeyeye said the Senate cannot on its own generate ministerial list.
“We cannot keep the list. If the list is transmitted to the President of the Senate, it will be read immediately. We are too eager and as I have told you, we want to hit the ground running,” he said.
“This is an activity that is not within our control and there is nothing we can do about it,” he added.
“As I said here two or three days ago, this matter is not within the control of the Senate. We cannot generate the list on our own; the Constitution does not permit us to do that.
Pointing out that the Constitution has assigned responsibilities to the various parts of government, he said it was the prerogative of the Executive to nominate ministers, who will then be confirmed by the Senate.
“Until that duty is undertaken by the Executive, there is nothing we can do about that. Whether we are hopeful or not is neither here nor there,” Adeyeye said.
