Ahmed Lawan, President of the Senate has predicted when President Muhammadu Buhari will submit his ministerial list to the upper legislative chamber.
Mr Buhari who was sworn on May 29 is yet to appoint ministers to help him steer the affairs of the country. A similar action by him when he was first elected president in 2015 was said to be responsible for the recession the economy of the nation went into the following year.
His delay on forwarding the names of those he intends to run the government with triggered a point of order by Senator Albert Akpan at the red chamber on Wednesday.
Mr Akpan while reminding his colleagues that the national assembly will soon embark on its annual recess next two weeks, said there is need to urge Mr Buhari to transmit his ministerial list to the upper chamber before the members embark on the holiday.
“This is very important because if such list is not made available for the required legislative attention before we embark on the long recess, there will be no ministers and by extension, the federal cabinet for the President to work with till September,” the lawmaker from Akwa Ibom North-East said.
Akpan said failure to make the ministerial list available before the national assembly embark on holiday will shatter the concerted effort being made by both arms of government to return to the yearly budget cycle of January to December.
“On this note, I call on the President of the Senate to inform President Muhammadu Buhari of the need for the ministerial list before we embark on recess,” he added.
Responding, the Senate President predicted that the Nigerian leader will send in his list before weekend.
“In fact, the list, based on information at my disposal, will be forwarded to us by the President before the end of this week,” Lawan said, appealing to his colleagues to warm up in terms of sacrificing sufficient time in carrying out thorough screening and confirmation of appointments of the expected ministerial nominees.
