Nigeria to begin screening of national cabinet members next week

The Nigerian Senate has said it would begin the screening of nominees to make up the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari by next Tuesday, almost two weeks after the list was made available for official confirmation.

Nigeria's senate leader Abubakar Bukola Saraki read the list of nominees for the first time on Tuesday, thereby ending speculations which dragged on for months in the West African country over those likely to make the president's cabinet list.

Buhari had transmitted the first batch of ministerial nominees to the Senate on Sept. 30 for proper screening by the upper legislative arm in the country. The list contained only 21 names but Nigeria is likely to have at least 36 ministers.

Going by the list read out by the senate leader on Tuesday, five former governors, a former chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Nigeria, the spokesman of the Nigerian ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, as well as the recently appointed managing director of Nigeria's oil corporation, were nominated for screening by the Nigerian president.

Nigerians have been waiting patiently to see the caliber of people to make the president's cabinet, more than four months after he took office, with hope that "it will not be business as usual".

Buhari had assured citizens of the African nation that he would nominate technocrats and some best hands from all 36 states in Nigeria to work with him.

Many had thought the president, who promised to hit the ground running immediately after taking oath of office, would make no delay in appointing his cabinet members. But the reverse was the case.

So far, the only information known by the public is that the president has decided to be in charge of the oil ministry for some 18 months before appointing a substantive minister for that ministry. Nigeria's economy largely depends on the gains of the oil sector.

Last week, the Nigerian senate leader urged his colleagues to be united in treating the list of nominees with dispatch.

" I believe the presence of ministers will create the space for greater policy engagement with the executive arm of government and enable us to begin to respond in a more systematic manner to the various economic and social challenges before us, especially through our various (senate) committees that will also be constituted soon," the leading senator said. Endit