‘Ministerial screening faulty without portfolios’

A member of Council of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Chairman, Steering Board of South East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC), Engineer Chris Okoye has faulted the on-going process of ministerial screening saying the list from the presidency should have contained the portfolios of the nominees.

He said many Nigerians, especially members of the Engineering profession, are disappointed that the list of the Ministerial nominees was sent to the Senate without each individual’s portfolio.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, he said the absence of the requirement that the portfolio of a nominee be outlined in the schedule that goes to the Senate notwithstanding, it would have been appropriate for the President to insist that his nominees have their specific portfolios attached to each of them before presentation.

Okoye believes that the President, by not doing that, lost a unique opportunity to re-affirm his belief in values of transparency, openness and people’s participation in governance.

He went on to question the screening process without the portfolios, insisting that the Senate’s capacity to be thorough has been flawed.

“The concept of screening at the plenary session at the Senate also reduces the incisiveness of the interrogation of the competence of the nominees,” he added.