President Bola Tinubu has sent the list of the second batch of ministerial nominees to the senate for screening.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila submitted the letter containing the names of the nominees to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday.
Recall that Gbajabiamila had last week said another list of minister-nominees will be sent to the National Assembly “in coming days” to increase the number to suit constitutional requirement.
The Chief of Staff, who praised the list of nominees submitted as a perfect selection of technocrats and people with political acumen, also explained the reason why the President did not attach portfolios to the names submitted.
“First of all, I’m sure you all know that the government is not fully formed until a cabinet is in place and that process started a while ago, culminating in the delivery of ministerial nominees today. The President took his time, spent a lot of time going through, did a lot of due-diligence, going through the nominees one by one.
“As you know he had 60 days from time of inauguration, as stipulated in the Constitution. He has fulfilled that requirement of the Constitution by submitting 28 names today, as his letter stated, and was read on the floor of the Senate, the remainder names, not sure how many, probably about 12, maybe 13, will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.
“As far as the nominees themselves are concerned, and like I said, Mr. President took his time to sift through those names, he dissected those names with a fine-tooth comb and that’s what you’ve seen, each and every one, I believe, of the persons on that list, are worth being on that list. But I really hope that we haven’t missed anything that would have necessitated any name not being on that list, but we wait and see.
“It’s a good mix of both people with political acumen and technocrats. So this is a good balance and it’s needed, these are people who have keyed-in to the vision and mission of Mr. President. Like I said, it’s a good balance, needed to move the country forward, as Mr. President is eager to do and has already started doing,”he said.
Explaining why the President did not attach portfolios to the names of his nominees, Gbajabiamila said it will afford him (Tinubu) the opportunity to look at the characters of the nominees and see the ministry that fits most of them.
He explained that while it would have been the best idea to attach portfolio to the names, it may cause problems if the President changes his mind after they have been screened.
He further hinted that the President may separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way that new ministries may emerge.
