The Senate on Friday continued the ministerial screening of nominees on the second batch list submitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
No fewer than 9 nominees, including 5 former governors, scaled the screening hurdle while former Senators were given the parliamentary privilege to take a bow and go.
Responding to questions posted at him, Lagos nominee Dr Tunji Alausa stressed the need for both the government at all levels and the private sector to partner in providing massive infrastructural development in the sector.
He noted that the only way to stop the brain drain in the health sector, popularly called “Japa,” is to provide an enabling environment to health practitioners. He said that everything is not about money, but when there are adequate infrastructures and enabling empowerment, no health provider would wish to leave his country because they are trained to take care of humanity.
Also, talking about the negligence of medical practitioners in the course of their duties, he lamented that unlike what is obtainable abroad, National Health Council is no longer functioning.
According to him, ” It is the responsibility of the medical board to take up any case of negligence on the part of health workers, but regrettably, it is no longer working. That is why cases of negligence are not been addressed,” he stressed.
Also, another nominee, who is also the former governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, while answering questions on the spate of insecurity in the country, stressed the need to give traditional rulers in the country constitutional role to be part of security architecture in order to tackle issues relating to insecurity at there various domain.
He noticed that security is not all about shooting, but there is insecurity caused by religious and ethnic issues, which can be best addressed by diplomacy and dialogue with traditional rulers.
The Senate has so far screened a total of 41 nominees, while the remaining 7 nominees would be screened on Saturday, 5th August, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Senate has explained the reason for not grilling former federal lawmakers who are ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu during their screening ahead of confirmation by the Red Chamber.
Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who gave the explanation at the beginning of the screening on Friday, said since the serving lawmakers knew the antecedents and capacity of the nominees who are former parliamentarians, it would amount to a waste of time to subject them to thorough grilling.
According to him, “this practice of ‘bow and go’ privilege extended to legislators is a global practice, not limited to the Nigerian parliament.”
Senator Bamidele said the explanation has become necessary so as to correct the public impression that the Senate was not grilling the nominees as promised but only allowing them to appear and leave the chamber after introducing themselves.
It would be recalled that the Red Chamber, through its spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC Ekiti South) promised to carry out a thorough screening of all the nominees by abandoning the usual ‘bow and go’ tradition.
“The screening is going to be thorough. It is not going to be a situation where the screening will be anyhow. We are going to know the background of the nominees, and we are not going to disappoint Nigerians.
“It is not going to be a shallow screening. You must have the character, you must have the face, and you must have the behaviour to be among the cabin crew that is going to fly Nigeria.
“This time around, Nigeria is going to be better. Whoever gets to the floor of the Senate will be screened. We will not manufacture any questions,” he told journalists during a press briefing.
But many Nigerians, who didn’t know the workings of the parliament, wondered why the Red Chamber jettisoned its promise of thorough screening and sustained the ‘bow and go’ tradition.
