President Bola Tinubu has up till 28 July to send his ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation in accordance with the Nigerian constitution.
The constitution, following amendments by the last parliament, stipulates that the president and governors have, from the date they are sworn in, a 60-day window within which to appoint ministers and commissioners.
Section 42 of the constitution states that “(a) the nomination of any person to the office of a Minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the President has taken the oath of office;
(b) not less than ten per cent of persons appointed as Ministers shall be women:
Provided that the President may appoint a Minister at any other time during his tenure and such appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate.”
The document also provides that the president shall appoint at least a minister from each of the 36 states of the federation.
However, there are speculations that Mr Tinubu may have submitted the ministerial list to the Senate last week but the upper chamber is delaying the announcement because of some changes being effected on the list.
Should the list arrive at the Senate this week, the upper chamber which sits thrice a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) may shift its recess and take some days off to screen the nominees before embarking on a vacation.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
