Details have emerged on the circumstances that led to the collapse of Balarabe Abbas Lawal, during his ministerial screening by the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday.
Information Nigeria had reported that Abbas slumped during screening after he had read out his profile and was answering questions on why he should be confirmed by the lawmakers.
The development forced the Senate to go into a closed session as medical personnel were brought into the chamber to revive the ministerial nominee.
Prior to his collapse, he had talked for about fifteen minutes.
The nominee had said he has been serving in government for a long time and intends to bring his experience to the cabinet of the President Bola Tinubu administration to change things around.
“I want to indicate clearly that, as part of my career, I was appointed secretary to the government three times from 2015 till today. I want to say that I am likely the longest-serving secretary to the government in Nigeria.
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“I have been part of administration; I have been part of policy-making. I have been part of trying to change things in the country based on what I did at the federal level and at the state level.
“I want to bring this experience to wherever I find myself in the new cabinet of the president. I want to express my gratitude to all of you for listening, and I also want to extend my sincere thanks to the President of the Senate for allowing me to stand before the chambers,” he said.
While speaking on the development, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio said Balarabe admitted that he was exhausted, having been overworked for some days before the screening.
The Senate President said the nominee insisted on proceeding with the screening, saying he was fine.
“The nominee, Mr Balarabe Abbas Lawal, said he was quite exhausted, and that he rushed to Abuja for his ministerial screening,” Akpabio said.
