Former Anambra governor, Chris Ngige, who is a ministerial nominee, met behind closed doors on Friday with Pres. Muhammadu Buhari. He spoke with state house correspondents afterwards, speaking positively about the tough conditions listed by the Senate for the ministerial nominees.
Ngige said the senate was within its rights to list those conditions as they are constitutional.
The conditions of the senate as listed by the Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee on Media and Publicity, Dino Melaye, include proofs of their asset declaration; must have their nomination approved by at least two senators from their states; and must have a clean bill of health from Senate’s public petitions committee, among other conditions.
The conditions will be tough to fulfil for nominees like former Rivers governor Rotimi Amaechi who does not have the support of his state’s senators and has several petitions against his name.
Ngige however said he was not bothered at all. “The Senate is populated by elder statesmen and women and what they say they would do is in conformity with the laws of the land.
“That they would use constitutional requirements which I just mentioned to you now; and they would also use Senate rules and they also say they would use tradition: ‘bow and go’ which is a tradition,” he said.
Contrary to the various criticisms that have trailed some of the nominees, Ngige said the composition showed that the President was committed to leading the country with people of cognate experience.
While saying that there was no pushover among the 21 names submitted to the Senate, the former Anambra State governor expressed the conviction that the team would help Buhari deliver on his electoral promises earlier than envisaged.
“If you look at the list very critically, you will observe that Mr. President wants to go his voyage with people who have cognate experience in governance.
“When I say cognate experience, we are talking of people who have been tested, tried and trusted by their various people.
“So I don’t think Nigerians should expect anything less than what Mr. President is already doing from that team.
“The team will help Mr. President to deliver on most of the promises he made to Nigerian people, in fact much more quicker than is even envisaged because I don’t think there is anybody on that list that you can call a pushover in terms of government business,” he said.
