The Senate says some ministerial nominees may not scale through the screening if they fail to provide their certificate of asset declaration which is a condition for persons holding public office.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, stated this while sustaining a point of order raised by Bayelsa West lawmaker, Lawrence Ewrudjiakpo, at the ministerial screening.
This implies that 42 out of the 43 ministerial nominees who have once held public office risk being disqualified if they don’t provide evidence of asset declaration by next week.
Earlier, Ewrudjiakpo noted that the Senate rules stipulate that all ministerial nominees who have once held public office must make available their certificate of asset declaration to the Senate.
Order 121 states: “The Senate shall not consider the nomination of any person who has occupied any office contained in part 1 of the 5th Schedule of the constitution prior to his nomination unless there is written evidence that he has declared his assets and liabilities as required by Section13 of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Such declaration shall be required for scrutiny by the Senate.”
The Bayelsa senator argued that most of the nominees that had been screened had failed to abide by this rule.
He, therefore, called on the Senate to enforce this rule in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
Ewrudjiakpo stated, “Mine is an appeal to say that all the nominees that have appeared before us, very few of them have provided evidence of declaration of assets. I move that the National Assembly liaison should facilitate their submission of such declaration because before we were sworn in, we declared our assets.
“I want to suggest that the Senate takes this notice and asks them before we go into the confirmation stage to submit such requirement.”
In his response, the Senate President said, “Your point of order is sustained.”
Addressing journalists later, the Bayelsa senator said the constitution requires the President, Vice President, the service chiefs and heads of extra-ministerial departments to declare their assets before they are screened
“It is a breach of the constitution. If we are fighting corruption, we must be seen to be doing so. We should know what they are worth before coming to office and what they are worth at the end of their tenure,” he argued.
All the ministerial nominees, only Uche Ogha of Abia State is not bound by the law having never held public office before.
TheNigeriaLawyers
