The Nigerian Senate will on Monday begin the screening of 28 persons nominated by President Tinubu for appointment as ministers.
The Senate last Thursday finally received the list of President Bola Tinubu's nominees for ministerial appointment. The list contains 28 names, made up of former governors, federal lawmakers, technocrats, party members and political asociates of the president.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, arrived at the National Assembly with the list while the Senate was already in plenary. The rules of the Senate allow strangers into the chamber only if the Senate President grants a point of order raised by a senator with such a request.
Mr Gbajabiamila was thus allowed in after the Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, raised the point of order.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, had put the request to vote and the majority of the senators voted in support. Mr Akpabio subsequently directed the sergeant-at-arms to lead Mr Gbajabiamila into the chamber. He handed the letter to Mr Akpabio at 1:19 p.m., took a bow and promptly made his exit.
The constitution mandates the president a window of 60 days within which to submit his ministerial nominees to the Senate. Mr Tinubu did so a day before the window closed.
Consideting that Nigerians had eagerly awaited the list and for the Federal Executive Council to be constituted, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramadu, said the screening will begin on Monday, even though the Senate does not usually hold plenary on that day.
The exercise will go on in spite of the fact that the president did not indicate the portfolio that he intends to assign each nominee. However, the president is not mandated to do so by law.
The Senate spokesperson also assured Nigerians that the process would be rigorous, with the nominees scrutinised based on their backgrounds and professional or political achievements according to what they have in their curriculum vitaes.
Based on past experiences, the screening may run throughout the week before the Senate confirms or rejects individual nominees.
Screening and confirmation
The Senate Standing Order 2015, as amended, specifies that confirmation of nominees would be conducted in open session.
Order 120 of the Senate Rules on Proceedings of Nomination, states that the Senate or its committee shall sit in open session unless the Senate or the committee by a majority vote decides otherwise.
Order 119 of the Senate standing rule stipulates that nomination request from president of the federation to the Nigerian Senate will be referred to the appropriate committee or Committee of a Whole of the Senate
The rule states that:
When nominations shall be made by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Senate, the nominations shall:
(a) if the responsibilities of the nominees are specified, be referred to the appropriate committee,
(b) if the responsibilities are not stated, be referred to the Committee of the Whole Senate.
When the exercise is conducted in an open session of plenary, the Senate Majority Leader will raise a standing order of the Senate to accommodate the nominees into the chamber. The Senate President will throw the request open to other senators and if a majority of the senators support it, the Senate President will direct the nominees to come into the Senate chamber.
After granting the request, the Senate President will recommit to Committee of a Whole. This means that the screening and confirmation will be considered by all the senators, including the senate president.
Standing before the senators, each nominee will be asked questions and their response may determine whether they are considered by the lawmakers to be suitable or not for appoibtment.
However, the Senate has a tradition of being soft with serving or former lawmakers among the nominees. They simply ask them to take a bow and leave.
After the scrutiny, the Senate President will seek the permission of senators to confirm the nominees for ministerial appointments.
Order 131 of the Senate rules states that the final question on every nomination shall be "Will the Senate confirm the nomination/appointment of...as...?"
If the majority of the senators votes in support of the nominations, the Senate President will then announce confirmation of the nominees one after the other.
Rejection of appointment
Former Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike and his Kaduna counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai, had said they would not be interested in serving as ministers after their tenure as governors.
Mr Wike made his statement during the campaign for the 2023 general elections.
"Only one person can be a minister from a state. I will not be a minister, I will not, I will not. I am not a liability," Mr Wike said.
This is the second time Mr El-Rufai 's name will appear on a ministerial list. He was confirmed in 2003 and went on to serve as FCT minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr El-Rufai had also said he would never "repeat class", adding that there are "young people" he could recommend for the job'.
"Even if offered, I'm not coming to Abuja. As I say, I never repeat class and there are many young people I know that I can recommend that would do a better job than I did.
"I'm too old for this. I'm too old for demolition, get a young man with blood in his veins or a young woman."
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The two former governors are on Mr Tinubu's list but are yet to reject their nominations, indicating that they have had a change of mind.
Mr Wike is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but became an ally of Mr Tinubu after the PDP presidential primary which he lost to Atiku Abubakar. His Rivers State is the only other southern state that Mr Tinubu won outside the Southwest.
With respect to Mr El- Rufai, he played a major role in the pivotal decision of northern state governirs in the APC to back only southern aspirants in the party's presidential primary. Mr Tinubu later said during a campaign stop in Kaduna that he would not allow Mr El-Rufai to stay out of his government if he won the election.
But some Nigerians do not want the Senate to confirm the nominations of the two former governors.
A local political opponent of Mr El-Rufai, whom he helped oust as senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, is one of the most vocal opponents of the nomination of the former Kaduna governor.
He berated the president for nominating someone he warned would betray him and cause friction in his government.
But the constitution stipulates the criteria for appointment as a minister. Unless a nominee fails to meet any of these criteria, a Senate dominated by the ruling party is unlikely to withhold approval of allies of the president for appointment as ministers.
