Ministerial screening: Why we allowed 16 of 24 nominees take a bow – Senate

The ‘take a bow’ policy, a major feature of the ongoing screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate has come under criticism, with Nigerians saying such a trend won’t help the country.

As at Thursday, the second day of the screening exercise, no fewer than 16 out of the 24 nominees already attended to from the entire list of 43, were accorded the legislative privilege.

The policy, which began in 2003 as a privilege strictly meant for nominees who had been elected to the Senate in the past, is now being extended to all persons with previous legislative experience both at federal and state levels.

Other categories of ministerial nominees who now enjoy “the bow and go” privilege are all female nominees, all nominees from the state of origin of incumbent Senate President Ahmad Lawan, as well as  national officers of the ruling party.

Beneficiaries

Late Senator Wahab Dosumu, who represented Lagos Central Senatorial District between 1999 and 2003, was the first to enjoy the privilege when he was appointed minister in 2004 after defecting from the then Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Among President Muhammadu Buhari’s 43 nominees who have so far enjoyed this special privilege are Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), George Akume (Benue), Emeka Nwajuaba (Imo), Adeleke Mamora (Lagos), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).

Others are Tayo Alasoadura (Ondo), Mustapha Baba Shehuri (Borno) and Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa).

The olive branch was also extended to Abubakar Aliyu (Yobe). Although he is not a former lawmaker, Senate Leader Abdullahi Yahaya called on colleagues to grant him the privilege of not being questioned on the grounds that his brother was not only an ex-lawmaker but that he is a constituent of the Senate president.

Also excluded from scrutiny were three female nominees: Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra), Ramatu Aliyu (Kogi) and Sa’adiya Umar Farouk ( Zamfara).

Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Muhammadu Musa Bello (Adamawa), Sa’adiya Umar Farouk (Zamfara) were also granted same.

Senate justifies stance

Justifying the privilege, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the entire lawmakers had agreed before the commencement of the exercise on the modus operandi to adopt.

He said the procedure the red chamber adopted was to allow both the Senate majority leader and the minority leader speak on behalf of other lawmakers.  

“We have agreed on a policy on how we go about the screening, I just want to reiterate that policy and to say that we will extend the privilege to members of the legislature even at states’ level.

The procedure we have adopted is to ask the two leaders in the House, the Senate leader and Senate minority leader to speak on our behalf and then I round off,” he said

CSOs

But some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)  have expressed disappointment with the Senate for insisting on the policy, saying it’s confirming the fear in some quarters that the Lawan-led Senate could become a rubber-stamp.

In a statement Thursday,  Executive Director Citizens’ Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) Frank Tietie said : “The way the Senate is going about it shows that it is also confirming the fears of all those who thought that this current leadership of the National Assembly would be a rubber stamp one.

“The citizens of the country should now be more afraid that when legislative scrutiny appears to be lax, what will suffer is the principle of checks and balances which would have improved the performance of government which will ultimately translate to the well being of the people.”

Also condemning the policy in another statement, Austine Aigbe of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) said: “What we see now is that you are a former senator, former House member, so you bow and go. The funny one is that your brother used to be a member of the National Assembly and you come from the area where the Senate president is from and because of that, you take a bow? What does that add up to the Nigerian state? It is a weird scenario that we find ourselves.

“But I think the Senate owes Nigerians a duty to engage these nominees on topical issues cum challenges that the country is facing.

“There is insecurity, corruption, poverty. So, we need to address all of this. The nominees must be able to tell us how they will address the economy so that Nigerians can follow them up. 

“As journalists and civil societies, that is the only way you can follow them up. From the way it is now, we can’t follow them up because they never said anything. So, we can’t engage them. The Senate is not helping the Nigerian people to have good governance that we all yearn for. I think we are in a very pathetic situation.”

The criticisms that has greeted the application of the policy began even from the within the Senate on Thursday.

Abaribe cautions

Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, drew the attention of the Senate to the negative effects of the policy.

He said in global parliamentary practices, confirmation hearings were conducted for nominees to assess their competence and qualifications for the appointment of being a minister.

The lawmaker said confirmation hearings were different from endorsement hearings.  
“Section 147 (2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which granted the Senate the power to confirm ministerial appointments does not envisage the take a bow and go policy for almost all the nominees.

“This is a confirmation hearing, it is not an endorsement hearing and I so move that we abide by what the constitution says.”

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