The Senate will, on Monday, commence the screening of the ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Bola Tinubu on Thursday.
This comes as reports surface that the President will create new ministries and form his full cabinet in two weeks.
The Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), said the Upper Chamber halted all activity to begin screening immediately after the names of 28 nominees given to federal lawmakers were read on the floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Adaramodu said, “Screening will commence on Monday. We have suspended all the rules to accommodate the screening of the nominees.
“We were supposed to proceed on our vacation today (Thursday) but it has been suspended for this screening. We are starting the screening on Monday. We are not going to allocate time to nominees to talk.
“We will start by 11am on Monday and other days at 10am. We are ready to sit all day to screen them, with no limitation of hours. We won’t even time them. We would listen to them reel out their blueprint to us. The screening would be done in the presence of Nigerians.”
Much-awaited list
Akpabio, at plenary, unveiled the list consisting of 28 nominees.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajamiabila, delivered the list to the Senate President.
Prominent people who made the list are former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike (Rivers), former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), and former Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi (Ebonyi).
Others are the acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abubakar Kyari (Borno); the party’s women leader Beta Edu (Cross River); Deputy Chief Whip of the Ninth House of Representatives, Nkiruka Onyejiocha ( Abia); a lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, (Kwara); and the President’s Special Adviser on Media, Strategy and Special Duties, Dele Alake, (Ekiti).
Also, contained in the list is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Adebayo Adelabu (Oyo); former Minister of State, Health, Ali Pate, (Bauchi); and Senator John Eno, (Cross River).
The rest are Abubakar Momoh (Edo); Ambassador Yusuf Maitama, (Bauchi), Ahmad Dangiwa (Katsina), Hanatu Musawa, (Katsina), Chief Uche Nnaji, (Enugu), Doris Aniche (Imo), Mohamed Badaru (Jigawa), Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom), Olubumi Tunde-Ojo, (Ondo), Stella Okotete, (Delta), Uju Ohanaeye (Anambra) and Bello Goronyo, (Sokoto).
Mohammed Idris (Niger), Olawale Edun (Ogun), Imman Suleiman (Nassarawa), Joseph Utsev, (Benue) and Sani Danladi ( Taraba) also made the 28-man list.
Having read out the names, the Senate referred the list to the Committee of the Whole.
11 states missing
Although the constitution prescribes that the President shall appoint at least a minister from each of the 36 states of the federation, the list sent by the Tinubu contained names of nominees from 25 states, leaving out 11 states.
The states not yet covered are Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara.
Meanwhile, Bauchi, Cross River and Katsina states got two slots each.
New ministries coming
Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila said Nigerians should expect the naming of new ministries as President unveils another list of 13 ministerial nominees “in the coming days.”
“Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way that you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before,” the Chief of Staff to the President told State House Correspondents hours after he submitted the ministerial list to the Senate.
Explaining how the names on the list emerged, Gbajabiamila said, “Mr President took his time to sift through those names. He dissected those names with a fine-tooth comb.
“That’s what you have seen. Everyone, I believe, of the persons on that list is worth being on that list.
“But I hope we haven’t missed anything that would have necessitated any name not being on that list.”
He explained that the names were sent to the Senate without specific portfolios attached to give the President enough flexibility to decide who handles what portfolio.