The Senate has declared that the submission of President Muhammadu Buhari’s much-anticipated ministerial list was beyond its control.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Adedayo Adeyeye, said this in reaction to the apprehension generated over the delay of the executive to submit the ministerial list to the Senate for consideration and approval.
Adeyeye insisted that the Senate lacked the constitutional power to generate the ministerial list, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to transmit the ministerial list to the Senate.
Addressing reporters in Abuja after plenary yesterday, Adeyeye said Senators were as anxious as other Nigerians to receive the list.
He said: “We cannot keep the list, if the list is transmitted to the President of the Senate, it will be read immediately. We are too eager like I have told you, we want to hit the ground running.
“This is an activity that is not within our control and there is nothing we can do about it. Like I said here two or three days ago, this matter is not within the control of the Senate.
“We cannot generate the list on our own. The constitution does not permit us to do that. The constitution has assigned responsibility to various part of government and it is the prerogative of the executive to nominate ministers which will then be confirmed by the Senate.
“Until that duty is undertaken by the executive there is nothing we can do about that. Whether we are hopeful or not is neither here nor there.”
This is coming at a time President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, disclosed that the Senate will before the end of this week, receive the list of ministerial nominees from Buhari.
Lawan stated this while responding to a Point of Order raised by Senator Albert Bassey Akpan (PDP, Akwa Ibom North East) who expressed worries over the delay in the presentation of the list by the Executive to the Legislative arm.
