Senate Screens 10 Ministerial Nominees as Saraki Announces New List
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| Senate President Bukola Saraki |
causes minor stir
Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday announced the final
batch of ministerial nominees sent to the upper chamber, just as
the Senate also commenced the screening of 10 of the 21
ministerial nominees sent on September 30 by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
The new nominees are Hon. Khadijah Bukar Abba-Ibrahim
(Yobe), Professor Claudius Omoleye Daramola (Ondo),
Professor Anthony Anwuka (Imo), Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama
(Enugu), Brig. Gen. M.M Dan-Ali (rtd.) (Zamfara), Mr. James E.
Ocholi (SAN) (Kogi), Mrs. Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna) and Mr.
Okechukwu Enelamah (Abia).
Others are Alhaji Muhammadu Bello (Adamawa), Mr. Mustapha
Baba Shehuri (Borno), Ms. Aisha Abubakar (Sokoto), Senator
Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa), Mr. Adamu Adamu (Bauchi),
Professor Isaac Adewole (Osun), Mr. Usani Uguru Usani (Cross
River) and Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari (Niger; most likely
representing the FCT).
The screening was smooth and devoid of rancour, just as the
entire vicinity of the National Assembly was besieged by
loyalists of the nominees.
The peaceful atmosphere of the exercise was heralded by a
closed-door session held by the senators before the screening.
As a result, there was the perception that the Senate president
might have appealed to his colleagues to make the process
rancour-free, an appeal that apparently paid off.
As early as 7am yesterday, friends and family members of the
nominees began to arrive the National Assembly complex. The
screening which began at 11.45 am ended at 5.15 pm.
Those screened yesterday were Senator Udoma Udo-Udoma
(Akwa Ibom), Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chief Audu Ogbeh
(Benue), Chief Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi) and Dr. Osage Ehanire
(Edo).
Others were Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (Kano), Alhaji
Lai Mohammed (Kwara), Amina J. Mohammed (Gombe),
Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa) and Ibrahim Jibril (Nasarawa).
First to be screened was Udoma who was subjected to
questioning by the Senate president and his deputy, Ike
Ekweremadu, against the hitherto practice of the Senate to just
ask a former member to “bow and go” without answering a
single question.
Responding to a question on how he hoped to bring his wealth
of experience in the private sector to bear in the new
government, Udoma said: “We have to look at the various
policies of manufacturing. They have to be consistent because
that is what investors want.
“To increase the investment rate from its current 20 to 30 per
cent, we have to look at the issue of the enabling environment,
review our tax policies and I am ready to help redesign it being a
child of the private sector.”
Further attempts to question him were interrupted by the Senate
Leader Ali Ndume, who said the mood of the Senate was that he
should bow and go. Accordingly, the Senate president asked
Udoma to take his bow and depart.
Following Udoma was Fayemi, who denied leaving a debt
burden for Ekiti as the state governor. He also denied spending
N50 million on a bed in the Government House.
“The state was saddled with outstanding obligations. Former
Governor Segun Oni did not envisage that he was going to leave
office and as such, I met an obligation in excess of N30 billion
and I took it up. I completed all the projects, paid up the
outstanding obligations to the contractor,” he informed the
Senate.
He pointed out that Ekiti occupied the 35th position on the
revenue ladder in the country with a monthly income of N3
billion and salary bill of N2.4 billion.
“If you found yourself in such a state, you had to find a way to
meet the promises made to the people of the state,” he said.
On his part, Ogbeh said he believed that he could do the job,
claiming that as a minister in the Second Republic, all that was
required of him is to bring about change.
According to him, agriculture needs to be explored as a platform
to meet Nigeria’s numerous challenges.
On the question of the morality of his defection from the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC),
he said: “Party movements happen everywhere. A one time
British minister changed party three times. This happens in an
emerging democracy. The question of internal democracy is a
serious matter but as we mature, this will die gradually.”
Ehanire, a medical doctor, canvassed a review of the school
curriculum with the deployment of facilities that comply with
global standards.
He also advocated the need for hospitals to be better managed
and called for the fight against corruption to be extended to the
health sector. He noted that many people who go to the hospital
do not get the desired attention and canvassed orientation
programmes for hospital workers.
“Health insurance is still at its infancy; it is being studied right
now to be applied in communities. Priority should be given to
rural health and one of the issues of focus should be hygiene.
“Traditional rulers have a lot to contribute. Many of the drugs
we use today came from native medicines. Traditional medicine
has to be better regulated because it is dangerous to allow
people who are ignorant to work on citizens.
“Something should be done to set standards and limit what they
can do before they begin to refer cases to higher levels. We can
do a lot more than we are doing here. We have to sit down to
design models. We have to design our own, be innovative rather
than copy those that have succeeded in other places,” he added.
In his submission, Dambazzau said Nigeria does not have a
defence policy, recalling how he was once invited by the office
of the minister of defence on how to review the nation’s defence
policy.
He said the defence policy needed to be reviewed from time to
time because of the need to find the best way to use military
services. “We look at the challenges, opportunities and it is on
that basis that in the army, we come out with our order of
battle. I can assure you that the document is there and it is
under review.
“On procurement, when I took over, the maximum I could spend
as an army chief was N20 million and this was later reviewed to
N50 million. Anything higher than this must come from the
Ministry of Defence,” he said.
On the insurgency in the North-east, he added: “I agree that it
has been ravaged by poverty and insecurity. Soldiers are losing
their lives. Although there are allowances and incentives
approved for them, there is the need for an upward review and
one of the ways is to take advantage of the United Nations
reimbursement system.
“We have often relied on the budget but if we can assess the
United Nations fund, the budget would be utilised on the welfare
of staff and equipment. There is also the need for capacity
building and inculcation of discipline in the officers and men,” he
said.
However, a twist was introduced in the exercise when the entry
of the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Mohammed, provided comic relief.
While some senators hailed him, others watched him with
reservation, with the Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio,
wondering out aloud if Mohammed was about to unleash
“propaganda” on the Senate.
But what was most surprising to onlookers was that some
senators asked him to take a bow and take his leave in contrast
to the pronouncement that the Senate had earlier made that the
“bow and go” syndrome was over.
The Senate, through its spokesperson, Dino Melaye, said last
week that if at all that privilege is enjoyed this time, it would
apply to only former National Assembly members.
It was therefore confusing to many on what premise the
senators began to champion the “bow and go” campaign for
Mohammed. This was moreso that their former colleague,
Udoma, did not enjoy the privilege of leaving the chamber
without being questioned.
As a result, nobody fired a single question at Mohammed. He
only introduced himself, added that he might have ruffled a few
feathers in the course of his duties, but it wasn’t personal. He
said it was service to be in the opposition, but a higher service
to serve in government, following which he departed amidst
laughter and cheers.
While answering questions, Ms. Amina Mohammed did not
hesitate to say that Vision 20:2020 was no longer achievable in
view of the current economic realities.
Subsequently, she delved into educating the Senate on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how it dovetailed
into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Her brilliant delivery and deep knowledge of the issues was so
flawless that the bewildered senators who had asked her why
she lacked university qualifications, ignoring the fact that she
was once an adjunct professor at the Ivy League University of
Colombia, New York, changed their minds and asked her to take
her bow and depart the chamber.
Jibrin, on the other hand, brought his experience to bear as the
ex-FCTA official who set up the Abuja Geographic Information
System (AGIS), when he spoke on land management and
development in the FCT.
He said until the issue of resettlement and compensation is
addressed in the FCT, the territory would continue to experience
haphazard development.
Adamu, during his screening, canvassed the need to invest in
infrastructure if Nigeria must rise from its current state.
Earlier, the Senate had adopted the report of its Committee on
Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions that Ms. Mohammed was
nominated to represent Gombe State and not Kaduna and
therefore cleared her for screening.
But the committee said the report on the petition against former
Rivers State Governor Chibuike Ameachi was not ready.
Also, Minority Whip, Senator Philip Aduda, protested the alleged
non-inclusion of a nominee from the FCT on the list in
compliance with the constitution.
But Ekweremadu said it was too early to make that conclusion
since the president did not attach states to the nominees,
explaining that one of the nominees might be from FCT without
Aduda’s knowledge.
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