Editor’s note: The long-awaited ministerial list has
currently created controversies among Nigerians at
all levels. It is against this backdrop that Kay Soyemi
(Esq), a social commenter, came up on his twitter
handle to examine what the Nigerian constitution
says about the power of the National Assembly to
screen ministerial nominees.

Excerpts:
I am nonplussed as to how and why the National
Assembly has arrogated to itself, the power to
screen any ministerial nominee from the executive
because there is no such provision in our
constitution.
Wherein the law gave express directives on the
power of the president to appoint his ministers,
subject to section 14 (3), it does not suggest that this
is subject to the approval of the National Assembly,
but its confirmation.
The Senate plenary session
This is what the law says on the matters of ministers
and the power of the legislature.

“Section 147 (2) any appointment to the office of the
minister of the government of the federation shall, if
the nomination of any person to such office is
confirmed by the Senate, be made by the president.”
Please note the absence of the word ‘screening’ or
‘screen’ and the import of the word ‘confirmed’.
See the powers of the National Assembly below:

88. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution,
each House of the National Assembly shall have
power by resolution published in its journal or in
the Official Gazette of the Government of the
Federation to direct or cause to be directed
investigation into –
(a) Any matter or thing with respect to which it has
power to make laws, and
(b) the conduct of affairs of any person, authority,
ministry or government department charged, or
intended to be charged, with the duty of or
responsibility for – (i) executing or administering
laws enacted by National Assembly, and
(ii) Disbursing or administering moneys
appropriated or to be appropriated by the National
Assembly.
(2) The powers conferred on the National Assembly
under the provisions of this section are exercisable
only for the purpose of enabling it to –
(a) Make laws with respect to any matter within its
legislative competence and correct any defects in
existing laws; and
(b) Expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the
execution or administration of laws within its
legislative competence and in the disbursement or
administration of funds appropriated by it.
I hasten to draw your attention to the two
subsections as these are the only direct and
applicable interfaces in this matter, that is, the
powers of the NASS in relation to the confirmation
of any minister nominated by the executive shall be
in relation to:

88 (1) b) the conduct of affairs of any person,
authority, ministry or government department
charged, or intended to be charged, with the duty of
or responsibility for –
Wherein, it is expressly stated that the purpose is to:

Section 88 (2) b) expose corruption, inefficiency or
waste in the execution or administration of laws
within its legislative competence and in the
disbursement or administration of funds
appropriated by it.
And crucially, section 88(1) does not expressly give
the NASS any direct power to resolve any such
anomaly as may be identified in section 88(2) b), it
specifically states that;

“Section 88 (1) Subject to the provisions of this
Constitution, each House of the National Assembly
shall have power by resolution published in its
journal or in the Official Gazette of the Government
of the Federation to direct or cause to be directed
investigation.”
i.e. the NASS only has the “power by resolution
published in its journal or in the official gazette of
the government of the federation to direct or case to
be directed investigation” into the nomination of the
ministerial nominee if any of the grounds as above
are applicable.
Please let the NASS and any persons so involved be
advised that our constitution is supreme and shall
not be violated or applied in abeyance.
The NASS has no power to screen and can only
sabre-rattle or delay the appointment of any
ministerial nominee by asking the appropriate
bodies to investigate them.

Source:
https://www.naij.com/588026-senate-no-power-screen-ministerial-nominees.html

sauce

says who?

lolz

INTROVERT:
sauce

maggi and tatashe

That law expert drank condensed monkey tail..

Fool... its now you know buh dey did in oda regimes.....
Even if we know d screening is hogwash, let dem be screened.. though my happiness is Nigerians now know Buhari is also a thief......

Ok.. na me have d power

All these indirect and deceitful ways to arrogate more powers to PMB ( our sole administrator ) without recourse to NASS will fail. Some days ago a northern fanatic said that the constitution should be suspended to allow PMB 'actualise' his plans for Nigeria. Now that has failed this has popped up. We must resist any attempt for neo-dictatorship