The screening of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees by the Senate will now take longer than initially expected, Senator Dino Melaye has revealed.
Screening to take longer than expected, here’s why
According to Melaye, who's the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, the legislative chamber has decided to reduce the number of nominees screened daily to ensure thorough screening.
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![The Ekiti state Governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji. [Twitter:BAO]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "The Ekiti state Governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji. [Twitter:BAO]")
Hence, only three or four candidates will be screened by the Senate daily as against the initial nine or ten.
“The reason why we reduced the number of nominees is because we responded to the agitations and yearnings and the aspirations of Nigerians,” Melaye said.
“We have monitored the reactions of Nigerians on the issue of the ministerial screening and we found out that Nigerians believed that we are rushing the process and it was not as thorough as they would desire.
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We have agreed that we reduce to three or four per day so that the interaction and screening exercise will be more thorough and Nigerians will appreciate who is going to be their minister,” he added.
The Senate had initially scheduled eight nominees for screening today but reduced the number to three at the last minute.
The name of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi was among those removed from the list.
Amaechi had earlier also been scheduled for screening on Wednesday, October 14.
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However, his initial appearance was postponed due to the inability of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to submit its report on a petition against him.
The former governor’s nomination was challenged by three Senators from his state who cited allegations of corruption levelled against him by current governor, Nyesom Wike.
The Senate committee however decided that the charges couldn’t serve as grounds to prevent his confirmation as minister as the case was still pending in court.
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The upper legislative chamber has so far screened and confirmed 18 out of President Buhari’s 36 ministerial nominees.
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![Polling clerks counted votes at a polling station after completing the voting process of the general election in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 25, 2023. [Getty Images]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Polling clerks counted votes at a polling station after completing the voting process of the general election in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 25, 2023. [Getty Images]")