The screening of ministers was expected to be tough peculiarly so, because this is the first time, in 16 years of democracy, that a hitherto opposition political party would become the ruling party at the federal level.
More so, with the frosty relationship between the senate leadership, (particularly the senate president, Sen. Bukola Saraki) and some powerful forces within his party, the stage was seemingly set for an interesting encounter.
The list, however was a skewed blend of the old and the new, technocrats and politicians. Comparatively also, the list didn’t have as much women as there was in the immediate past administration. The list was also criticized for being insensitive to youths.
Also while the competence of the nominees were of little or no concern to most commentators, disappointments trailed the length of time it took to unveil the list, considering that former governors and party chieftains,made the “hallowed” list.
It is arguable whether any attempt was made to balance cabinet following those complaints, even though the coloration of the final batch of 16 nominees had more technocrats and not too politically exposed persons.
Nevertheless, little regards was paid to the ratio of youths and women in the final list. This much was expressed by national president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, who lamented that “it didn’t have to take so long for this team to be unveiled to Nigerians.”
He also lamented that the ministerial list has short changed the youths despite the fact that youths were the backbone of the APC campaign. “The contribution of youths have been sacrificed again for the older generation.” he added.
He nonetheless said while it was too early to write off the team, some of the ministers held promise for the country.
And The Screening Began….
By Tuesday, the atmosphere in the senate chamber was charged. The actors – senators and nominees – were fired up to match the anxious expectations of the Nigerians.
With the barrage of petitions and fever pitch lobbying that trailed the unveiling of the list, nothing short of a show down was expected.
However, from the intelligent questions to the outright irrelevant questions, the senators arguably barely raised the bar, analyst s opine.
For some analysts, the screening, turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts, considering the vow of the senate to resist the urge to give easy “bow and go” and engage nominees robustly on issues.
More so, with the dire economic situation in the country, as often declared by this administration, pundits opined that the engagement between the senators and the nominees would have been much more serious, detailed and robust beyond party affinities and senatorial traditions.
For others, most of the nominees actually stole the shine off the senators, exposing a soft underbelly of how political considerations tend to supersede national considerations.
Still, the senators were largely handicapped, expectedly so. President Muhammadu Buhari’s prerogative, as with previous presidents, not to attach portfolios to ministerial nominees, inevitably hampered specificity in questioning.
Whether or not senators were in some way, informed of the ministries the nominee would be posted to was hazy as they had to rely on resumes of nominees, guess work, body language and even speculations in asking questions.
Also with more lawyers in the team who also have other professions and competences, it was hard to put a finger on who would eventually end up where, save for former chief of army staff, General Abdurrahman Dambazau, whose portfolio is almost certainly the Ministry of Defence.
How they performed….
While the technocrats, in trying to impress the senators, blossomed in the fullness of their intellectual prowess, the politicians in the ministerial list, were able to conjure a blend of intellectualism and camaraderie.
For former senators like Udoma Udo-Udoma, Hadi Sirika, Chris Ngige, Aisha Alhassan, they enjoyed the “covering” tradition of the senate, which provides that having served in the senate, they are equally qualified to be ministers.
Former governors and politicians, including Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Babatunde Fashola; Chief Audu Ogbeh; Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; enjoyed varied measure of warmth, admits impressive presentations.
However, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, former spokesman of the APC and torn in the flesh of PDP, had to rely on subtleties to maneuver possible hostilities during his screening, including having bow a record 13 times before the senators.
Upsets
So far, the screenings has had its fair share of drama. The nomination of the former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has been as contentious.
As soon as he was officially declared a ministerial nominee, petitions, seeking his disqualification, flooded the senate. However unlike some other nominees who have since been confirmed ministers, a report on Amaechi by the senate committee on ethics and privileges is yet to be submitted to the senate. He had faced the committee like other nominees to defend himself over the allegations leveled against him.
Briefing journalists after the Senate adjourned on Tuesday chairman of the adhoc committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Dino Melaye, said the recommendations of the Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions would be adopted during plenary today, after which Amaechi would be cleared for screening.
Melaye said: “The reason why he was not taken was because the report of the Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions was not ready. The report will be adopted tomorrow (Wednesday) and he will be cleared for screening. He will undergo the screening exercise tomorrow (Wednesday).” But that was not to be as the report was still not ready by the close of the senate plenary on Thursday.
The politics in his state is obviously at the heart of his travails. The PDP-led state government has seemingly vowed to stifle his emergence as minister.
However, in-spite of the legal tango over a judiciary inquiry report which asked Amaechi to refund N97bn which allegedly cannot be accounted under his watch as governor, the senate has said it would screen Amaechi and others this week.
The intrigues in the saga appears to be far from over, even though some believe that the former governor would scale through, albeit with some bruised ego.
Besides, the travails of Amaechi, former deputy governor of Niger State and ministerial nominee, Ahmed Isa Ibeto, had his nomination withdrawn by the presidency.
Although the reason given was because two nominees emerged from Niger State, watchers believe that Ibeto, was a victim of intense politicking in his state.
While it seemed that all was well in Sokoto State, the nomination of Ms Aisha Abubakar from the state, was petitioned against by a coalition of women from the state on grounds of incompetence.
Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC Sokoto East) had laid the petition on the floor of the senate saying “the Sokoto women through this petition are demanding Ms Aisha Abubakar’s replacement on the ministerial list with a more competent person from the state”, he said.
Reacting to the entire screening process so far, Yerima noted that as much as the process was constitutional, “there was little or not departure from the past but just business as usual.”
He added “despite the propaganda of not allowing people bow and go, what we have seen is a situation where kindergarten questions were asked and lots of more critical issues ignored.”
On his part, national secretary of Social Democratic Party (SDP) Dr Sadiq Umar Gombe, described the process thus “It is okay even if there is a little departure from previous experience, which will surely make the nominees to sit up.
“So lets pray for all of them to succeed and hope they will live up to the expectation of the people and also hope that they understand the challenges. I want to believe that they are ready to put in the commitment and sacrifice needed with the understanding that it is all about service and support for President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed.”
“On the whole I don’t think the senators grilled the nominees enough in light of the challenges we face today”, said Mr. Martins Abisoye, an social commentator.
“Critical questions that has to deal with security, the economy, PIB, health care and others were not exhaustively looked into. But it also points to complaints as to why nominate ministers without attaching portfolios ahead of senatorial screenings?” he said.
On his part, the national chairman of Peoples Democratic Movement, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, said “I am satisfied with the Senate screening of the nominees. The senators are asking the right questions and the nominees are responding well. There is no discernible personalisation of the process by senators from nominees’ home states nor from the Senate President himself.”
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