Senate begins screening of three ministerial nominees

The senate has begun the screening of three ministerial nominees.

The nominees are Abbas Balarabe, Jamila Bio Ibrahim and Ayodele Olawande.

Ibrahim and Olawande were nominated by President Bola Tinubu as minister of youth and minister of state for youth respectively in September.

The position of minister of youth became vacant after the president redeployed Abubakar Momoh to the ministry of Niger Delta development.

Abbas will now be the nominee from Kaduna state.

Nasir el-Rufai, immediate-past governor of Kaduna, was initially nominated as minister but the senate withheld his confirmation because it did not have a security clearance on him.

The president’s request to confirm the nominees was premised on Section 147(2) of the constitution as amended.

The screening began on Wednesday after Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, moved a motion to the effect.

The upper legislative chamber has gone into the “committee of the whole” to conduct the screening and confirmation exercise.

The nominees are currently on the floor of the senate.