The Senate on Saturday continued with the screening of ministerial nominees as it screened 5 nominees out of the 7 listed for the day while two other nominees alongside confirmation of all the nominees expected to come up on Monday.
Those who sailed through the screening hurdles are; Dr. Isiak Salako from Ogun State, Dr. Bosun Tijani from Ogun State and Mrs Lola Ade-John from Lagos State.
Others are; Prof. Tahir Mamma from Adamawa State and Mr Uba Maigari Ahmadu from Taraba State,
One of the nominees, Dr. Bosun Tijani from Ogun State had his screening tough with a lot of debates and drama as he was accused of tweeting negative remarks about Nigeria and the Nigerian Senate.
After his brief introduction, Dr. Bosun Tijani was confronted with his Tweet in 2021 where he referred to Senators as “morons”.
Tijani had earlier in a July 2019 tweet described Nigeria as a “bloody expensive tag”, allegedly portraying the country in bad light.
The Senate, which apparently is appalled by the tweets, demanded explanation from Tijani who incidentally holds a British nationality.
At this point, the nominee from Ogun State looks completely pinned down and at the mercy of the lawmakers.
When the floor was finally yielded to Tijani to defend himself, he managed to wriggle out of trouble after explaining that the tweet in question was taken out of context and does not reflect what he stands for and his love for his country Nigeria.
He said it was a tweet in the heat of anger over how he was shabbily treated as a Nigerian citizen at the Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom.
But Tijani’s respite was momentary as the tweets ware dug out by the Senate Minority Leader.
However, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, asked the Senate to allow Tijani apologize for his misguided youthful exuberance which the nominee did before he was allowed to take a bow and leave the chamber.
Also Another nominee, Dr. Isiak Salako from Ogun State who is a medical doctor by profession answered questions that relate to the health sector in Nigeria.
Dr. Salako called for improved funding in the health sector and pledged that if he is saddled with the responsibility to oversee the health ministry, he will be an advocate of infrastructural development in the health sector in Nigeria.
The nominee also described the issue of brain drain in the health sector as a very big problem in Nigeria. He lamented that about fifty percent of his colleagues who graduated from the same university are now practicing abroad.
He noted that the only way to reduce the menace is to give priority to the welfare of health workers in the country.
He lauded the federal government for the efforts made to increase the coverage of immunisation in the country but called on the National Orientation Agency to increase on the campaign that the immunisation has no negative effect on the youth as well as on the culture.
Lola Ade-John is another nominee who answered questions on how to curb the menace of fraudsters in the banking sector. According to her, the menace is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but a global challenge.
She said the only way to keep the activities of ‘yahoo boys’ under control is to have advanced technology to be able to be ahead of them as well as the support of security agencies to put their activities under check.
The Senate after screening 5 nominees out of the 7 listed on the order paper later adjourned to Monday, 7th August, 2023.
The remaining 2 nominees to face the screening hurdle are Dr. Mariya Mahmood Bunkutre from Kano State and Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) who the Senate President said they are in the process of filling their documentation.
The total number of nominees screened so far by the Senate stands at 46 out of 48 nominees forwarded to the red chamber by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for screening and confirmation.
The confirmation of all the nominees is expected to take place on Monday.