Leadership (Abuja)
Andrew Oota
21 November 2008
The Senate, at its commencement of the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees yesterday granted two of their former colleagues, Senator Ibrahim Musa and Honourable Ikra Aliyu Bilbis who are ministerial nominees the usual 'bow and go' respect even as it promised Wednesday that the conventional bow and go had short-changed the nation in the past.
The Senate had screened Professor Dora Akunyili, Senator Ibrahim Kazaure, Engineer Sani Mohammed Ndanusa and Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis.
Some Senators made efforts towards subjecting every nominee to vigorous screening by opposing the 'bow and go' giving their experience with Senator Sanusi Daggash when he held sway as minister of National Planning.
However, the Senate President David Mark intervened in the attempt to get a commitment from the nominee as he declared that former Senators who are accorded certain privileges by the Senate should be good ambassadors by representing the upper chamber of the National Assembly with facts.
Answering questions from Senators, Professor Akunyili told Senators that if the country must move forward politics should not be allowed to override public interest.
The outgoing NAFDAC boss also assured that her work would endear her to the Senate , promising a cordial relationship and that there would be no rancour amongst professionals in the new cabinet.
According to her, such rancour is merely due to ignorance adding that all that was needed was for everyone to carry out his or her job effectively.
Akunyili further said that NAFDAC had succeeded in reducing the incidence of counterfeit drugs from 75 per cent to about ten per cent stressing that if the war against fake drugs was sustained, it could be reduced to the barest minimum of five per cent in the next five years.
Her words, "I cannot be in NAFDAC all my life. We had a team and worked as a family in NAFDAC. It is not a credit of an individual. We worked to reduce counterfeiting of drugs in the country. In an organization with over two thousand people, I cannot say or swear that there are no corrupt people but it has been reduced to the barest minimum."
The fourth nominee that went through screening was Engr. Sani Mohammed Ndanusa from Niger who was asked to comment on the situation in Darfur.
In a most polite and respectful manner, Engineer Ndanusa who spoke brilliantly told the Senate that he be pardoned over the question as he was not too conversant with the situation in that region.
On Senator Kazaure, the Senate president David Mark said, "We know he is a colleague and we know we have a convention. That is not in doubt." He however allowed the Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba make a few observations.
According to Senator Ndoma-Egba, "Our distinguished colleagues, we have a convention here that Senators who are nominated by the executive arm enjoy certain courtesies when they come here.
"And I believe that you are entitled to this courtesy but we had a recent experience that one of us who came before us and enjoyed the courtesies that are attached to him by being one of us went back and trained his guns at us.
"We know that your primary loyalty as a minister will be to Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief. But we just want to satisfy ourselves, when you become a minister will you like our colleague under reference also train your guns at us? If you would, will you tell us what is wrong with us?
Mark intervened, "Senator Kazaure as you will well understand that was a very fair question. Fair as the question is, I want to overrule it. And I will tell you why I want to overrule it because it couldn't be any fairer than that.
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