As the clock ticks for the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to submit his list of ministers to the National Assembly within the next five days remaining of the 60-day constitutional window, a Presidential aid has confirmed that the Senate will receive the list of the President’s ministerial nominees this week.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Tope Ajayi, told The PUNCH on Sunday in an interview that “Ministers’ List will be out this week. Let’s wait till the names are out.”
The 1999 Constitution stipulates that the President and governors must submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or the respective state Houses of Assembly.
Asiwaju Tinubu, was sworn in as President on May 29, and is mandated by law to submit his ministerial list to the Senate before July 29.
The silence over the ministerial list has generated anxiety and heightened expectations among Nigerians.
But speaking to The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South), said the upper chamber has enough time to screen the ministerial nominees within the stipulated time.
He said, “I have reiterated severally and for the umpteenth time that there is still enough time to receive and screen the ministerial nominees. We know that Nigerians are eager to behold the executive team that will breathe oxygen into our economy and make life more abundant for us all. We are unarguably within the constitutional cover. The Senate shall surely do the needful and won’t disappoint Nigerians.”
Sunday PUNCH had earlier reported that the names of the ministerial nominees will likely be unveiled by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, at the plenary this week.
