Senate Begins Screening Of Ministerial Nominees, Today

The Upper Chambers of the National Assembly will today commence the screening of 31 ministerial nominees submitted to it by the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Last Tuesday, the Acting President sent to the Senate list of nominees that will form the crop of the new cabinet. This development came about a week after he announced the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council constituted by the ailing president Musa Yar;Adua.

Out of the 31 ministerial nominees, eight of the dissolved cabinet made the new list while 23 are fresh hands. The eight returning ministerial nominees include Odein Ajumogobia, Adetokunbo Kayode, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, Nuhu Sumo Wya, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, Godsday Orubebe, Prof.  Dora Akunyili, and Fidelia Njeze.

The 23 others that made the ministerial list are Mrs Josephine Anenih, Prof.  M.K. Abubakar, Navy Captain N.S. Olubolade (rtd), Dr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, Ndanusa Alao, Umaru Aliyu and Murtala Yar’Adua. The remaining lucky ones are Nduese Essien, Abubakar Mohammed, Olusegun Aganga, Labaran Maku, Sanusi Daggash, Emeke Nwogu, Bello Adokiye, Josephine Tapgun, Adamu Maina Waziri, Ernest Odebola and Suleiman Bello.

 The ministerial nominees list which attracted mixed reactions soon after it was made public in the Senate, however laid to rest days of lobbying by interest groups and political heavy weights to have their candidates included in the list.

Even when critics accused Jonathan of assembling what they called “greenhorns and lacking political experiences  “sources from his office disagreed, saying that the crop of the new ministerial nominees are experienced technocrats and professionals that are assembled to give a fresh breath to good governance towards a better Nigerian society.

Thought the Senate has promised a fair screening exercise for all the nominees, it may not be out of place to see anti-Jonathan senators being difficult during the screening in order to frustrate the nominees efforts to scale though.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, David Mark, is skipping this year’s International Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Bangkok, Thailand to enable him to preside over the screening of the ministerial nominees.

Mr. Paul  Mumeh, the Chief Press Secretary to the Senate president, made the announcement in a statement on Friday in Abuja.  

The world parliamentarians are expected to discuss issues on threat to security and peace, democracy and human rights, sustainable development as well as finance and trade across the globe.