Senate jettisons promise of thorough screening for ministerial nominees
Why lawmakers didn’t grill Wike, by Akpabio
Senate , yesterday, failed to honour a promise to thoroughly screen President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominees. On Thursday, lawmakers had boasted that the nominees would face tough scrutiny before they are allowed to take the traditional bow.
Spokesperson, Yemi Adaramola, who gave the indication during an interactive session with the Senate press corps said: “We are very much aware of the high expectations of those who will assist the President in fulfillment of his mandate. To satisfy the expectations of Nigerians for high velocity performance, we will “eyemark” not “earmark” the performances. The screening will be very thorough but there will still be the ‘take a bow and go’.
“The Senate will scrutinise the character, the ability of every nominee. Thorough screening for anybody who will be minister entails that he or she has ideas about everything, but in core specialties, like health, yes, the minister must be a professional.”
Also, Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, indicated that the upper legislative chamber would be exhaustive, as far as the screening was concerned. He said lawmakers would scrutinise the ministers thoroughly to ascertain their competences and capabilities to serve Nigeria diligently, and in such a way that would bring dividends of democracy to the populace.”
The first nominee to be screened was Abubakar Momoh from Edo State. In his brief remarks, Momoh said he was ready to serve in any portfolio assigned to him. Consequently, Senate President Godswill Akpabio asked him to “bow and go” because he was a member of the House of Representatives.
In Senate tradition, lawmakers, whether at state or federal level, do not go through rigorous screenings when they appear before the upper house. Former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, said President Tinubu would not regret nominating him as a minister. Describing himself as a performer, he said when he served as governor, he commissioned projects “everyday.”
Senator Mpigi Barinada (PDP, Rivers), added his voice, saying over five million people from Rivers State supported Wike’s nomination, and urged his colleagues to give him a pass mark.
Akpabio, therefore, asked Wike to take a bow, following a voice vote. Earlier, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin asked Wike if he was ready to continue “the wonderful thing you did in Rivers”, to which he responded affirmatively.
A total of 16 out of 28 nominees were lined up for screening yesterday.
The Senate had earlier extended its sitting time to be able to accommodate the nominees. Akpabio explained why Wike was not thoroughly quizzed. He said Wike had appeared before the Senate for screening when he was nominated as a minister by former President Goodluck Jonathan. “Having been nominated again for a ministerial position, there is no point asking him many questions,” Akpabio said. Wike had served as Minister of State for Education under Jonathan.
Meanwhile, there was a mild drama when lawmakers grilled a ministerial nominee from Benue State, Joseph Utsev, citing “discrepancies” in his biodata.
Utsev started his introductory comments at exactly 2:07 p.m. immediately after the Senate screened Wike. He told lawmakers he was born in Gboko, Benue State on December 2, 1980 and attended University of Agriculture, Makurdi, where he studied Civil Engineering and graduated with a Second Class Upper degree in 2004. Utsev said he observed the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kaduna in 2006.
The Professor of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering said he bagged his Master’s Degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2007 and further bagged a doctorate degree from the same university in 2011.
However, Senator Tokunbo Abiru from Lagos East Senatorial District asked Utsev to clarify his biodata.
“You were born on December 2, 1980 but reading further down, you attended St John Primary School, Gboko, in 1989,” Abiru said. “I am wondering whether you finished secondary school in 1989, which suggests that you started primary school at the age of three and finished in 1989.”
He said: “You also claimed that you went to secondary school in 1995. What appeared a bit distorted is that you graduated in 2004, meaning you probably would have spent nine years for your first degree. I just need you to clarify those data, starting from primary school; why it took you that long to get your first degree, despite the academic brilliance you have exhibited.” The nominee responded that he started primary school in the year 1984 and got his first school leaving certificate in 1989.
“I went to secondary school from 1990 to 1995. That was when I got my Senior School Certificate Examination. I was actually supposed to pass out in 2003 but there was a prolonged strike by ASUU. I spent six years in the programme, and that was why I graduated in 2004.” Akpabio interjected and said the nominee probably finished nursery school at the age of three and started primary school at the same age.
“The question was, you were born in 1980 and you had your first leaving certificate in 1989. That means that the period you should have been in nursery school at the age of four years, you were already in Primary one,” Akpabio said, prompting laughter from the lawmakers.
Akpabio said the nominee was “exceptionally brilliant” and was three years old when he started his primary education. “It’s possible that the nominee was a classmate of Senator Abba Moro.”
Taking the floor, Moro, from Benue South Senatorial District, urged his colleagues to give the nominee the benefit of the doubt. Akpabio, thereafter, said the discrepancy in Utsev’s biodata might have been a typo error.
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