Ministerial screening: Uproar in Senate over Amaechi as Lawan overrules senators

THERE was an uproar and protest on the floor of the upper chamber on Wednesday over the move by the president of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, to shield a ministerial nominee, Rotimi Amaechi, from the rigour of question and answer session by lawmakers.

The Senate had, on receiving the list of ministerial nominees from President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, declared that it would start the screening on Wednesday.

At the commencement of the screening exercise, the lawmakers were peeved as Lawan tried to ensure that the immediate past Minister of Transport enjoyed the privilege of automatic confirmation reserved only for federal lawmakers.

Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, was also a former speaker of the state House of Assembly for eight years.

Lawan’s position was rebuffed by the lawmakers, who insisted that the Senate standing rule on automatic confirmation was reserved for senators and members of the House of Representatives.

Before Amaechi took the podium, Senators George Akume and Godswill Akpabio, who were former minority leaders, had enjoyed the privilege.

The same privilege was extended to Honourable Emeka Nwajiuba, a member of the House of Representatives.

Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, had said senators from Rivers State were anxious to ask Amaechi salient questions, but Senator Lawan insisted that the Senate had agreed to adopt the procedure of allowing the Senate minority and majority leaders to speak on behalf of others when screening nominees with the legislative background.

“This policy was adopted consciously and overwhelmingly and I advise that we don’t shift the goal post. This Senate won’t shift the goal post,” he said.

But former Gombe State governor, Danjuma Goje, cited Order 3 of the Senate standing rules, which he noted reserved the privilege of automatic confirmation for senators and members of the House of Representatives.

Lawan then pleaded that the same privilege be extended to Amaechi, having served as speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years.

“We have agreed on a policy on how we go about the screening. I just want to reiterate that policy and to say that we will extend the privilege to members of the legislature, even at state level.

“We should let him be beneficiary, we aren’t doing it for him. We agreed that any nominee who passed through legislative house will be allowed to benefit,” he said.

Occasional shouts of disapproval were heard from senators each time Lawan tried to explain, while Senator Abaribe later conveyed the requests of senators from Rivers, asking  the former governor to show more than passing interest in security of lives and properties in his home state.

The Senate minority leader also disclosed the disaffection of the people of the South-East over the neglect of the eastern corridor in the construction of railway lines, despite its extension to Niger Republic.

“I want to make a comment on my good friend who is another donation from the PDP, having been eight years speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly under PDP, eight years governor of PDP and chairman of Governors’ Forum of PDP. So now that we know that he has his DNA in PDP, I only want to state that I have spoken to the Rivers State caucus and they have asked me to pass this message to you, that they expect that you will be minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which Rivers State is part of, which also means that whatever you can do as minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in making sure that peace is sustained and maintained in Rivers State, that you should please do.”

Efforts by Senator George Sekibo to raise the Senate Order were rebuffed by Lawan, who banged the gavel to rule him out of order.

Former deputy minority whip and a nominee from Lagos State, Senator Adeleke Mamora, who served as senator between 2003 and 2007, enjoyed same privilege which was equally extended to Mrs Sharon Ikeazor from Anambra State, the only female nominee screened on Wednesday.

 

Ogah  justifies N360 to $1 exchange rate

Senatorial nominee from Abia State, Ukechukwu Ogah, while taking questions from the senators, said the present  official exchange rate of the N360 to $1 was reasonable.

Ogah, who was the first to be screened, said the guided deregulation of the exchange rate was meant to guide against volatility of the rate, just as he cautioned against fuel importation,  which he noted was depleting the foreign reserves.

“There is no country that allows its currency to be fixed. Every currency is usually being floated. If you decide to deregulate the Nigerian petroleum sector, especially the downstream, it must be a guided deregulation.

“You don’t allow everybody to dump on us because there will be an impact on our foreign exchange. So, we must guide our currency because our ability to guide it is what makes it go up and go down,” he said.

Responding to a question asked by Senator Jubrin Barau on how to address the continued importation of refined petroleum products, Ogah, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Masters Energy, a player in the downstream sector, said the nation must take efforts to resuscitate its four refineries and encourage private sector to build modular refineries.

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He expressed concern over the indifference to local refining as he warned that a time would come when there would be no money to fund capital projects.

 

Aduda kicks against omission of FCT nominee

Three points of order dogged the Senate plenary on the suitability or otherwise of a ministerial nominee from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before the plenary dissolved to the committee of the whole.

Seeking the intervention of the Senate to impress on President Buhari on the need to nominate a person from the FCT,  the lone senator from the territory, Philip Aduda, raised a point of order pointing out constitutional provisions to back his plea.

Aduda said his constituents were worried over the development.

His point of order was supported by another raised by Senator Dino Melaye but was countered by Senator Ajibola Bashir.

“Mr President, the list for ministers was submitted yesterday. Out of the list of 43 nominees, to the surprise of my constituents, we did not find any nominee from my constituency and my constituents have asked me to come with a loud voice to say that this National Assembly, which is the state House of Assembly for the people of the FCT, as such they are depending on the National Assembly to help and ensure that there is equity for the people of the FCT,” he said.

He dismissed claims that no FCT indigene had, in the past, been appointed a cabinet minister as the basis for the continued exclusion of the FCT from being appointed.

Responding to his prayers, Senator Lawan assured that his plea was noted by the relevant authorities.

“I want to say that this is an executive function and that you have made the point very loudly, to borrow your words, and I am sure the executive will take the appropriate action as soon as possible,” he said.

In all, 10 ministerial nominees were screened on Wednesday and they were Ukechukwu Ogah, Godswill Akpabio, Adamu Adamu, Sharon Ikeazor, Senator George Akume, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Emeka Nwajiuba, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Olamilekan Adegbite and Rotimi Amaechi.

Nominees to be screened today, according to Lawan, are Timipire Sylva, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, Adeniyi Adebayo, Bashir Magashi, Ramotu Tijani and  Mohammed Abdullahi.

Also listed for screening today are Senator Tayo Alasoadura and Sunday Dare.

 

Women in Politics decry low female representation

Women in Politics (WIP), on Wednesday expressed worry over the low representation of women in the ministerial list released by President Buhari President of the group, Mrs Ebere Ifendu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja, said the number “is low and very poor.”

Ifendu said women were not happy with the nomination list, though the few women listed were those of character and integrity.

 

Youths lament exclusion from ministerial list

Youths, under the aegis of Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA), on Tuesday, lamented their exclusion from the ministerial list.

It said the list, which comprised 43 nominees from the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, comprised seven women without any youth representation.

In a statement issued and signed by the Executive Director, YIAGA AFRICA, Samson Itodo, the group expressed shock over the development, saying this ran contrary to the president’s public stance on the #NotTooYoungToRun bill.

It said the president had publicly proclaimed that Nigerian youths were now set to leave their mark on the political space, just as they had done over the decades in entrepreneurship, sports, art, media entertainment, technology and several other fields.

“While the wait for President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet is over, the wait for youth inclusion in his cabinet still lingers. State governors across Nigeria still have an opportunity to change this narrative by appointing young, competent people with character and capacity to head various commissions in the state,” it concluded.