THERE are strong indications that the Presidency has tapped leaders of the Senate to secure prompt and less rancorous screening process for a cabinet reshuffle.
The reshuffle is scheduled for the early part of next year, Nigerian Tribune gathered.
Already, two vacancies are existing in the ministerial portfolio, following the death of Barrister James Ocholi, the late Minister of state for Labour and Productivity in March and the exit, last week, of the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed.
The Environment Minister had exited the cabinet to take up the post of Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations(UN).
Nigerian Tribune gathered that 10 ministers may be affected.
Sources close to the Presidency and the National Assembly said on Sunday, in Abuja, that the Presidency was wary of a continuation of recent bashings from the Senate, a situation that had seen a number of nominees dropped during the confirmation process.
It was learnt that at least 10 ministers would be dropped from the cabinet, while some others would be asked to swap portfolios.
“There is an understanding that in the new year, one of the key assignments the Senate will undertake aside the consideration of the 2017 Budget is the screening of some ministerial nominees who will be replacing some of the ministers who are soon to be asked to leave the cabinet,” a source said.
Sources also said the administration had been inundated with reports that some ministers were wrongly placed when the appointments were made in 2015, while some others had been said to have shown lack of capacity in the areas of operation.
It was learnt that the two factors were being joggled to come to a conclusion on who should go or remain in the cabinet.
Sources also said the ministers soon to leave the cabinet were to cut across the geopolitical zones, an indication that the new names soon to make their ways into the senate would also come from the different zones.
A source said some rubbing of minds between the Presidency and the Senate had taken place over the issue and that the two institutions had pledged to work for the interest of the nation.
In recent weeks, some of the decisions of the Senate were said to have taken the Presidency by surprise, a situation that was said to have forced the rapprochement.
Just last week, the Senate dropped the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was nominated for confirmation as substantive chairman of the commission.
The lawmakers had also taken some decisions including the earlier rejection of non-career ambassadorial list, some nominees into the Board of National Communications Commission(NCC) and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which the senate initially described as “empty and unrealistic.”