Senate to screen ministerial nominees on Monday

The Senate says it will begin screening the 28 ministerial nominees proposed by President Bola Tinubu on Monday.

Spokesperson of the Senate, Sen. Adeyemi Adaramodu (APC-Ekiti), disclosed this while addressing newsmen after the list of the nominees was read in the upper chamber on Thursday.

Adaramodu said that although the Senate was not supposed to sit on Mondays, because of the importance attached to this national assignment, “we have suspended all our rules for them to commence the exercise next Monday”.

He assured that the screening would be thorough because the lawmakerswere very much aware of the high expectations of those who would assist President Bola Tinubu in fulfilling his mandate and the constitution.

“The Senate is going to examine the character, personality, experiences, and background of every nominee, and we believe at the end of it, Nigerians will not be disappointed.

“We expect that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that will be constituted after the screening is going to be the one that breathes oxygen into the comatose economy of Nigeria.

“The list is here; until they come forward with their resume, it’s not going to be a shadow screening that you have a very good resume; you don’t have the character to carry the resume.

“You must have the character and you must have the mental ability to be able to be part of that cabin crew that is going to fly the aircraft of Nigeria's success.

“To satisfy the expectations of Nigerians for high-velocity performance, we will eyemark, not earmark, the performances.”

He said that there would be no allocation of time for any nominee, and “if a single nominee takes up to three hours or a whole day, so be it.”

On allegations against some nominees, like former governors with EFCC cases, Adaramodu said all the nominees had gone through security screening checks from the executive.

“However, if there is any red flag raised, we will look into it. Nigerians will never be disappointed by the 10th Senate.”

Meanwhile, with the screening commencing on Monday, the annual recess of the National Assembly, which would have begun on Thursday, has been put on hold till after the exercise.