Top Presidency, NASS Officials Keep Sealed Lips As Buhari Sends Names Of Another Batch Of Ministers To Senate

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has submitted a second list of 15 candidates for his cabinet to the upper chamber of the National Assembly for approval, barely 24 hours before the Senate begins the screening of the 21 nominees whose names were sent to the Senate President Bukola Saraki over a week ago.

Though Saraki disclosed the fact on his tweeter handle today, he however did not disclose the 15 names who are expected to be unveiled in parliament on Tuesday.This followed the same method he adopted last time. Presidency officials who should know the names on the list also kept sealed lips. Like the previous, the latest list was brought to the Senate President by the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and Senior Special Assistant on NASS matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang.

Buhari submitted a first list with 21 names to the Senate earlier this month. He needs to nominate 36 candidates to fulfill the constitutional need for a minister from each of Nigeria’s states.

Buhari, a former military ruler, has been criticized for failing to appoint a cabinet since taking office on May 29, while Africa’s biggest oil-dependent economy has been hit by a plunge in crude prices.

Among prominent names in the first list unveiled by Saraki last week was Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the head of the state oil company, NNPC. Saraki did not specify portfolios, but oil industry sources say Kachikwu is expected to become state minister of petroleum to oversee daily operations under Buhari. The president has said he would hold the petroleum ministry portfolio himself.

Buhari appointed Kachikwu, a former Exxon-Mobil manager, to head state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last August, after firing the previous board in an overhaul to fight graft and mismanagement.

Buhari’s other cabinet nominations in the first published list included former state governors such as Babatunde Fashola, the former governor of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos. He also proposed Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of the oil producing Rivers State, among others.