The screening for the ministerial nominees commenced on Tuesday in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. The lawmakers of the 8th Senate were present and screening began with Udo Udoma.
Udoma stated that he was shocked at his nomination and he was ready to “hit the ground running”. He spoke of his enviable record and stated that “we cannot turn this economy around if we rely solely on the public sector; we have to focus on the private sector.” – A point that was repeated by a great number of nominees that were screened.
Kayode Fayemi, the ex-Governor of Ekiti State, followed Udoma’s screening and he was generally impressive. Fayemi stated: “Poverty is not inevitable. We have a lot of countries like China that have lifted its people from poverty.” He answered his questions eloquently and paid attention to foreign policy, emphasizing the need for a balance between the West and the BRICS. In terms of education, he spoke about the need for improvement technically and vocationally, stating that we need to make our public schools attractive.
Audu Ogbeh was the third nominee to be screened on Tuesday. He spoke about the harsh realities that we face in Nigeria today and stated that we have to go back to the drawing box; “those subsidising our stomachs are the poorest in the country.” Ogbonnaya Onu was next up and after his CV was addressed, he called on all Nigerians to put their differences aside if we want to maximise our potential. He stated that “Nigeria will be great again”. Onu further stated that he has not seen the last fifteen members on the ministerial list but hinted that we may see some youths on there. The lack of youths in politics and public life has been a huge problem that has caused an uproar recently, but youths are staying hopeful.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the ministerial nominee from Edo State, was screened right after Onu. Senator Ben Bruce was quick to highlight the difficulty of screening the nominees without a portfolio. As our lawmakers screened based on assumption, many of Ehanire’s questions revolved around the health sector. No questions were asked regarding Ebola, Polio, sexual violence, domestic violence and psychological care, which is often ignored. Many were quick to criticise the senate for asking rather basic questions, rather than challenging questions.
Abulrahman Danbazau was screened directly after Ehanire. He spoke on the allowances that are given to our soldiers saying “one thousand naira is low and the issue will be addressed”. Senator Garba Binta and Senator Remi Tinubu asked great questions on the welfare of our soldiers and motivation for youths to join the military, which is an important topic of discussion, as we need our youths to see the value of our security forces and the role that they can play in protecting Nigeria. Danbazau stated that our soldiers need maximum medical support and it is definitely an issue that he plans on correcting.
Lai Mohammed was screened after Danbazau and he had the shortest screening in the Red Chamber on Tuesday. After mixed responses from the senate and laughter from the public, Mohammed promised “I am going to be a passionate, committed and patriotic as I was as the opposition.” – Mohammed then walked out shaking the hands of both APC and PDP lawmakers.
Amina Mohammed was screened after Mohammed and she was the first female to be screened on Tuesday. She is the special advisor to Ban Ki Moon on the Sustainable Development Goals and she was also an advisor to General Obasanjo on the Millennium Development Goals during his time in office. She stated: “I am indeed privileged to be nominated but I am more humbled to be standing before this house.” – Her CV was addressed and questions began. She was asked about the success of the MDG’s and she stated that the capacity of states to meet the criteria was absent. The MDG’s addressed social agenda and the SGD’s have a different approach as they take the environment into account. “The seventeen SDG’s are a response to 193 countries. Out of the eight million people that responded to our survey, two and a half million came from Nigeria”, she stated. There were no negative responses from the senate following her clear and concise responses to her questions, so she took her bow and walked out.
Suleiman Adamu was up next after Mohammed and he spoke about the importance of skill acquisition, stating that we have a lot of work to do. “We are always looking for the easy way out”, he noted. Adamu went on to speak about the importance of investment into infrastructure, as good water supply would take care of many of our health problems. For every organisation to be effective, Adamu believes that it must haveresources and manpower. He stated that “we like to take the fast track approach” only to find out that a project that we could have handled effectively has failed because we are out of funds. Adamu believes that our roads always go back to design due to us always taking the short way out and to finish off his screening he stated: “We have Favelas. We just have a Rio De Janeiro around posh areas.”
Ibrahim Jibril was the last nominee to be screened on Tuesday. He spoke about policy inconsistencies that we have had over the last thirty years and the lack of proper record keeping and how it leads to double allocations. He stated that fake certificates are an issue and many people are always looking for a way to own a property in the FCT.
Wednesday’s screening began with the Ex Governor of Lagos State – Babatunde Fashola. He went on record saying “I don’t know the last time that any serious conviction was made for rape.” – security remains the primary but toughest job that a leader can have. After the lack of questions on sexual violence during Ehanire’s screening the day before, many were happy to see Fashola address an oft ignored issue. Fashola resisted the urge/tendency to condemn our national development, emphasizing that he does not sign cheques or fix contract prices in reference to the contract inflation allegations made against him – the only training that he has is that of a lawyer. The senate questioned Fashola on the corruption allegations and Fashola responded accordingly: “The unfortunate thing about money is that it always raises suspicion, even amongst brothers. When loyalties are to be tested, the real answer is that may our loyalties never be tested. In public life I have remained loyal to causes that I have signed on to.” – Fashola was then asked on his take to value the life of Nigeria’s citizens and he stated: “I think we can make better choices. This is the time to make better choices…the economy needs a stimulus, our infrastructure is behind and if we don’t invest we can’t grow the economy.” – Fashola then took a bow and Emmanuel Kachikwu was up next for screening.
Kachikwu’s screening was based around the petroleum industry – an industry that he is likely to become the minister of now that he has been confirmed. He stated: “I have had thirty years of unblemished career in the oil industry.” – Questions were asked on the current state of the industry and the Petroleum Industry Bill. Kachikwu stated that our refineries are operating at about 25-27% capacity and if we cannot run the refineries then we need to get out and privatise them. He stated that “if any refinery is producing below sixty percent, it is not production” and the long-term solution is to privatise as much as we can. In terms of the Petroleum Industry Bill, Kachikwu stated that he will not be constrained by the lack of PIB in making sure that holistic solutions continue to be propelled. He further spoke about what he has done over the past six weeks: “One of the key things that killed the previous bill is that there wasn’t engagement. Corruption was a major issue and still is. We have cut short every contract that we have found suspicious. I am not interested in the person offering the contract, but it must be transparent. We have downsized at the upward level, we’ve moved from nine directorates to four directorates but the problem is not only at the top level, it is also at the bottom. If I do get the approval [as minister], I intend to pursue the drastic measures that have taken place over the past few weeks.” He further stated: “My past work didn’t cover power, but you will see that over the last six weeks we have had a dramatic increase in gas. I have published my first monthly report in the industry in six weeks; it has not been done in ten years. I am doing a weekly podcast with the NNPC until December, then it will become monthly.” – Questions were then raised on the overdue salaries of NNPC workers but Kachikwu stated: “My salaries in the NNPC are current. I am not aware of anyone being owed salaries.” – Kachikwu then took a bow and Abubakar Malami was up next for screening.
Malami’s screening was rather short, he was asked questions from the lawmakers of the 8th senate and he stated that the fundamental consideration has to be looked into from a collaborative perspective. He took a bow and Chris Ngige took his stand on the podium. Ngige proclaimed “We of the ACN stock and later APC never differentiated. I am here to get your conformation to get the executive arm of government.” – Ngige then answered his questions and told Senate President Bukola Saraki that we are in the era of change and that change will be holistic. Aisha Al-Hassan was up next.
Al-Hassan started by clearing up rumours that had gone around about her following her nomination. She took a bow after one question and a positive response from her former colleagues and Solomon Dalong came on to the podium. Dalong said : “I think, to be very fair to addressing the security challenges in the North East, we must look at the history of these crises. Cattle rustling is not limited only to Nigeria.” He then went on to speak about the need for a common national interest between Christianity and Islam in order for us to progress and following this, he was asked questions on Nigerian prisons. He posited that Nigerian prisons are not correctional prisons and he will subscribe to correctional prisons. He also spoke on social media as a new innovation and the need for a system to regulate it. It is a very serious aspect of our laws that we need to consider and regulation will have to include defamation laws. Dalong took a bow and Kemi Adeosun was next up for screening.
Adeosun was the third and final female nominee to be screened. She stated: “I understand what it means to run a business. We need innovative and creative solutions. We have significant resources, we have talent, and we have energy. Nigeria has what it takes to be a top twenty global economy.” Adeosun was then asked questions on what she could offer based on her experience living in the diaspora; she was also asked how we can prevent the predicted 2016 recession and also how we can attract foreign investment. Adeosun emphasized the need to diversify saying “Oil represents just nine percent of our GDP, but it represents seventy-five percent of our government revenue. We need to implement strategies to improve our IGR. We are not in a recession; we are in a slow down. The GDP is growing and if we support that growth we can avoid a recession. We cannot continue to downsize the public sector; we must grow the private sector. When we consolidated our accounts we found over two billion Naira and some of it had been dormant for ten, twenty years.” She also stated that “the exchange rate is not a silver bullet, it has to be accompanied with fiscal policies, monetary policies and industrial policies” then she took her bow and Hadi Sirika was up next.
Sirika had a short screening starting with a brief introduction of himself. He noted that Nigerians often ask him why the ticket from Abuja to London is double the amount from Accra to London and referred to policy making as a solution. He took his bow as the final nominee for the day.
Bukola Saraki ended the day by confirming all of the ministers that had been screened with the senate. Shittu and Amaechi are yet to be screened along with the second batch of Buhari’s nominees.