Senate confirms Abbas Balarabe after collapsing during screening

The senate has confirmed three ministerial nominees who were screened on Wednesday, including Abbas Balarabe, who collapsed during the exercise.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim and Ayodele Olawande were the other nominees confirmed by the senate.

They both fielded questions from the senators.

Ibrahim spoke about putting in place an “inclusive plan” for young Nigerians.

“When we design our youth development plan, we hope to bring young people to the table so we can have an all inclusive plan that proffers a bottom-up approach in order for young Nigerians to take ownership of the youth development plan and its implementation,” she said.

While Balarabe will be minister of environment, Ibrahim and Olawande were confirmed as minister of youth and minister of state for youth, respectively.

However, Balarabe, a former secretary to the governmemt of Kaduna, in the administration of Nasir el-Rufai, ex-governor of  Kaduna, collapsed when he appeared before the senators.

He was just speaking about himself when the incident happened.

Immediately, Senate President Godswill Akpabio called for water and ruled that the upper legislative chamber proceed[tps_footer][/tps_footer] into a closed session.

“Get him water with sugar,” Akpabio had said.

After more than an hour in a closed session, the senate came back and confirmed all the nominees.

Akpabio explained that Abbas collapsed from “exhaustion” as he was fasting when he appeared before them.