Nigeria: Senate Under Monetary Inducement to Disqualify Some Ministerial Nominees.

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Rotimi Akinwumi

28 June 2011

Abuja. — Despite the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to officially forward the names of his ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation, interest groups are already mounting pressures on some outspoken Senators to help embarrass some of the nominees during questioning with a view to getting such nominee disqualified.

Already, lobbyists are dangling carrots in terms of millions of naira before the Legislators who are considered powerful enough to carry out the hatchet job.

Senator Smart Adeyemi who made the disclosure on Monday while speaking with Journalists added that the move is not limited to political enemies of some of the nominees but that some multi-national companies are also involved in the dirty deal.

He stated that the interest of the companies were centered on some returning Ministers who by insistence on strict implementation of government policies as it affect the sector they preside over in the last government, were considered as enemies that must be stopped at all cost.

“We have been under intense pressure by lobbyists and political hired mercenaries to stop some nominees from being cleared or to disqualify some nominees by asking questions to embarrass them and stop them.They have given many of us sleepless nights with offer of millions of Naira so as to discredit some nominees.

However while assuring that the monetary inducement will not affect their sense of judgement when the screening commences said “but to some of us, this will not in anyway affect the screening”.

Adeyemi also disclosed the readiness of his colleagues to shame the lobbyist who did not meant well for the country, by standing on principles and put national interest forward instead of considering pecuniary interest in handling the screening exercise.

He also gave insight into what await returning ministers whom he said might not encounter much stress during the screening exercise as they have all performed creditably well in their first coming in office.

Said he “I believe that majority of the Senators that I have interacted with believe in President Jonathan’s transformation programmes and will not allow any of us to be used. Those who are prepared to spend millions to disqualify some nominees or the transformation agenda of the President should invest their money in charity work and leave the Senate alone.

“Many of us will be very much at alert to make sure that money is not allowed to play any role in this screening exercise. We have been told that some people should not be allowed to pass through the screening simply because they effected or carried out reforms that will empower Nigeria rather than foreign interest.

“In this crusade are some multi-national companies and their agents who feel that some re-nominated ministers, who were part and parcel of the reform programmes and agenda aimed at empowering Nigerians as regards local content in the process of industrialization, should be stopped in order to kill such reforms.

“Even those of us that are perceived to be radical will not in any way make ourselves available for embarrassing or stopping any nominee except of course where such nominees display incompetence. To us as legislators, national interest come first not foreign interest”.

He disclosed further that some ministers like Dieziani Alison-Madueke, and a few other will not find it difficult getting through the screening exercise because they not only did well in their job in the last administration, but because they remain key to the attainment of the president’s visionfor the country.

“The President, who had overwhelming support during the last election based on his transformation agenda must be given the benefit of the doubt because he emphatically told the nation that he is going to embark on transformation.

” As such, he must have meditated deeply and convinced that every nominee he is bringing, especially the reappointed Ministers must have performed excellently well enough.

“None of all the re-nominated Ministers had any problem with their committees at least to the best of the Senate. I speak this as a Senator, who did not miss one day of not being in the National Assembly but missed only four sittings due to flight delay. In essence, I had been part of every discussion, every issue in the last four years in the Senate. I had an idea of all the performance of these Ministers”.

There is no gainsaying the fact that there is need for total reforms in the Transportation, Oil and Gas, Housing and Power Sectors and these sectors require highly intelligent and courageous Ministers and of course, some would be retained for continuity”.

He however assured that the screening exercise will not turn to bow-and-go session as thorough job will be done with a view to sieving the wheat from the chaff.

“In conformity with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s transformation Agenda, the need to select and appoint highly cerebral Nigerians with proven track records of excellence in their respective fields in order to drive home the transformation objective, cannot be over emphasized.

“Nigeria has sat in the doldrums for too long. Therefore, the Nigerian government that celebrates mediocre while abandoning true patriots and professionals in the lurch, must finally be bade farewell, if the transformation agenda, which is truly engineered towards the betterment of the lives of Nigerians is to birth any positive result.

“This objective can only be achieved by ensuring that appointments to service are based squarely on qualification and merit, I mean by putting round pegs in round holes”.

He also counseled the lobbyists to stay clear of the national assembly if they do not want to be embarrassed.

“We, at the National Assembly will vehemently oppose further attempts to lure us to stake the future happiness of the Nigerian masses by attempting to scuttle the confirmation of otherwise qualified nominees to fill ministerial slots, particularly ministers who have the restructured their ministries in the past. We shall resist the temptation for the sake of the Nation and the Nigerian spirit.

Those sending petitions against Ministerial Nominees to irregular bodies or they that invest in publishing campaigns of calumny against their brothers on the pages of Newspapers ought to know that there exists committees on public petitions in both the Senate and House of Representatives divisions of the National Assembly, where their grievances should have been directed before now, not at the hour of screening.

” Every Ministerial Nominee must have passed through security screening before his or her name is sent to the floor of Nigerian Senate for screening.

“The duty of the Senate is then to consider security reports and the intellectual capacity of nominees before their confirmation as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.However, it is disheartening to note that intense pressure in being mounted on some of us, lawmakers, who are perceived to be outspoken, in order to becloud our sense of judgement.

“The antics of lobbyists and horse traders have become unbearable lately as they have offered huge sums of money to some lawmakers in a bid to derail them from towing the paths of justice in the confirmation of nominated and re-nominated ministers”.

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