The screening was smooth and devoid of rancour, just as the entire vicinity of the National Assembly was besieged by loyalists of the nominees.
The peaceful atmosphere of the exercise was heralded by a closed-door session held by the senators before the screening.
As a result, there was the perception that the Senate president might have appealed to his colleagues to make the process rancour-free, an appeal that apparently paid off.
As early as 7am yesterday, friends and family members of the nominees began to arrive the National Assembly complex. The screening which began at 11.45 am ended at 5.15 pm.
Those screened yesterday were Senator Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom), Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chief Audu Ogbeh (Benue), Chief Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi) and Dr. Osage Ehanire (Edo).
Others were Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (Kano), Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Kwara), Amina J. Mohammed (Gombe), Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa) and Ibrahim Jibril (Nasarawa).
First to be screened was Udoma who was subjected to questioning by the Senate president and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, against the hitherto practice of the Senate to just ask a former member to “bow and go” without answering a single question.
Responding to a question on how he hoped to bring his wealth of experience in the private sector to bear in the new government, Udoma said: “We have to look at the various policies of manufacturing. They have to be consistent because that is what investors want.
“To increase the investment rate from its current 20 to 30 per cent, we have to look at the issue of the enabling environment, review our tax policies and I am ready to help redesign it being a child of the private sector.”
Further attempts to question him were interrupted by the Senate Leader Ali Ndume, who said the mood of the Senate was that he should bow and go. Accordingly, the Senate president asked Udoma to take his bow and depart.
Following Udoma was Fayemi, who denied leaving a debt burden for Ekiti as the state governor. He also denied spending N50 million on a bed in the Government House.
“The state was saddled with outstanding obligations. Former Governor Segun Oni did not envisage that he was going to leave office and as such, I met an obligation in excess of N30 billion and I took it up. I completed all the projects, paid up the outstanding obligations to the contractor,” he informed the Senate.
He pointed out that Ekiti occupied the 35th position on the revenue ladder in the country with a monthly income of N3 billion and salary bill of N2.4 billion.
“If you found yourself in such a state, you had to find a way to meet the promises made to the people of the state,” he said.
On his part, Ogbeh said he believed that he could do the job, claiming that as a minister in the Second Republic, all that was required of him is to bring about change.
According to him, agriculture needs to be explored as a platform to meet Nigeria’s numerous challenges.
On the question of the morality of his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said: “Party movements happen everywhere. A one time British minister changed party three times. This happens in an emerging democracy. The question of internal democracy is a serious matter but as we mature, this will die gradually.”
Ehanire, a medical doctor, canvassed a review of the school curriculum with the deployment of facilities that comply with global standards.
He also advocated the need for hospitals to be better managed and called for the fight against corruption to be extended to the health sector. He noted that many people who go to the hospital do not get the desired attention and canvassed orientation programmes for hospital workers.
“Health insurance is still at its infancy; it is being studied right now to be applied in communities. Priority should be given to rural health and one of the issues of focus should be hygiene.
“Traditional rulers have a lot to contribute. Many of the drugs we use today came from native medicines. Traditional medicine has to be better regulated because it is dangerous to allow people who are ignorant to work on citizens.
“Something should be done to set standards and limit what they can do before they begin to refer cases to higher levels. We can do a lot more than we are doing here. We have to sit down to design models. We have to design our own, be innovative rather than copy those that have succeeded in other places,” he added.
In his submission, Dambazzau said Nigeria does not have a defence policy, recalling how he was once invited by the office of the minister of defence on how to review the nation’s defence policy.
He said the defence policy needed to be reviewed from time to time because of the need to find the best way to use military services. “We look at the challenges, opportunities and it is on that basis that in the army, we come out with our order of battle. I can assure you that the document is there and it is under review.
“On procurement, when I took over, the maximum I could spend as an army chief was N20 million and this was later reviewed to N50 million. Anything higher than this must come from the Ministry of Defence,” he said.
On the insurgency in the North-east, he added: “I agree that it has been ravaged by poverty and insecurity. Soldiers are losing their lives. Although there are allowances and incentives approved for them, there is the need for an upward review and one of the ways is to take advantage of the United Nations reimbursement system.
“We have often relied on the budget but if we can assess the United Nations fund, the budget would be utilised on the welfare of staff and equipment. There is also the need for capacity building and inculcation of discipline in the officers and men,” he said.
However, a twist was introduced in the exercise when the entry of the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mohammed, provided comic relief.
While some senators hailed him, others watched him with reservation, with the Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, wondering out aloud if Mohammed was about to unleash “propaganda” on the Senate.
But what was most surprising to onlookers was that some senators asked him to take a bow and take his leave in contrast to the pronouncement that the Senate had earlier made that the “bow and go” syndrome was over.
The Senate, through its spokesperson, Dino Melaye, said last week that if at all that privilege is enjoyed this time, it would apply to only former National Assembly members.
It was therefore confusing to many on what premise the senators began to champion the “bow and go” campaign for Mohammed. This was moreso that their former colleague, Udoma, did not enjoy the privilege of leaving the chamber without being questioned.
As a result, nobody fired a single question at Mohammed. He only introduced himself, added that he might have ruffled a few feathers in the course of his duties, but it wasn’t personal. He said it was service to be in the opposition, but a higher service to serve in government, following which he departed amidst laughter and cheers.
While answering questions, Ms. Amina Mohammed did not hesitate to say that Vision 20:2020 was no longer achievable in view of the current economic realities.
Subsequently, she delved into educating the Senate on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how it dovetailed into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Her brilliant delivery and deep knowledge of the issues was so flawless that the bewildered senators who had asked her why she lacked university qualifications, ignoring the fact that she was once an adjunct professor at the Ivy League University of Colombia, New York, changed their minds and asked her to take her bow and depart the chamber.
Jibrin, on the other hand, brought his experience to bear as the ex-FCTA official who set up the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), when he spoke on land management and development in the FCT.
He said until the issue of resettlement and compensation is addressed in the FCT, the territory would continue to experience haphazard development.
Adamu, during his screening, canvassed the need to invest in infrastructure if Nigeria must rise from its current state.
Earlier, the Senate had adopted the report of its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions that Ms. Mohammed was nominated to represent Gombe State and not Kaduna and therefore cleared her for screening.
But the committee said the report on the petition against former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Ameachi was not ready.
Also, Minority Whip, Senator Philip Aduda, protested the alleged non-inclusion of a nominee from the FCT on the list in compliance with the constitution.
But Ekweremadu said it was too early to make that conclusion since the president did not attach states to the nominees, explaining that one of the nominees might be from FCT without Aduda’s knowledge.
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