Ministers not likely to emerge until October

 

BY OUR EDITOR

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) may not be constituted until October going by feelers from the National Assembly and even the Executive arm of government.

National lawmakers, particularly first-time legislators, are grumbling and threatening to push for another adjournment upon resumption July 2, if their allowances and other monetary benefits are not paid on or before then.

They also point at various logistic issues that need to be resolved before they can settle down to work.

The implication of such adjournment is that it will dove-tail into the third week of July when both houses of the National Assembly, Senate and House of Representatives, will be embarking on their annual long vacation that will terminate in the last week of September.

This makes October the earliest any ministerial list (if it comes before then) will be considered.

Even though THE GUARDIAN online report monitored by @reliablesourceng quoted Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha as hoping that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, was likely to send the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate in July, it is unlikely that such would be considered within the period available before the legislators commence their leave.

“It is very, very possible,” responded a returning member of the National Assembly on the fears that Nigerians may have to wait until October to have the Federal Executive Council in place.

“It’s not just the issue of allowance, our long vacation is always third week in July and we will not reconvene until September ending.

“Apart from the issue of allowance, our offices are still undergoing renovation. Lawmakers do not have offices allocated them yet and our microphones in the chamber are not working. We have a lot of issues,” the legislator reliably confided in us.

The logistic challenges thrown up by our source appear to tally with the position of the SGF who spoke to THE GUARDIAN and gave reasons why the President was yet to release list of his ministers one month after he was sworn-in for a second term.

Said Mustapha: “He (President Buhari) was inaugurated on May 29. We had the Democracy Day celebration on June 12. It was a choked-up programme as we had to work towards the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly because there is nothing you can do if their leadership does not emerge.

“So far, we have part of the leadership that has emerged. The other part will emerge after they return from their recess. They are reconvening on July 2 and it is when they reconvene that we expect they will finish other complements of their leadership.”

He added: “There are other key officers needed in the introduction of an executive bill. You don’t go directly to the Senate President; you only write to him. It is the Majority Leader, who represents the party in the Senate that has the responsibility of introducing the bill, and he has received the list too.

“I believe that within the month of July, he will submit the list. It is then up to the Senate to do the needful and conclude the exercise.”

The lawmakers, however, stressed that unless something is done between June 25 and July 2 (expected resumption date), the only option open to them was to show up on July 2 and proceed on a long vacation.

The Ninth National Assembly is made up of more freshmen. Out of the 109-member Senate, only 43 (39 per cent) are returning, while 66 (71 per cent) are coming for the first time.

In the House of Representatives, almost half of the 364 members are first-timers. Precisely, 165 (45 per cent) are lawmakers coming into the Green Chamber for the first time, while 199 (55 per cent) are old-timers.

According to THE GUARDIAN the implication of the delay in settling the lawmakers, especially the senators, is that even if President Buhari sends in the list of his cabinet nominees, it would take the next two months before they could be screened.