Reps move to make portfolio attachment mandatory, also want to participate in screening
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Portfolios will henceforth be attached to the list of ministerial nominees the President sends to lawmakers for screening, if a new bill proposed by the House of Representatives gets passed and signed into law.
The House has also proposed another bill to include the Lower Chamber in the screening of appointees nominated by the President, which is currently done by only the Senate.
The Constitution amendment bill on the attachment of portfolios to ministerial nominees, sponsored by Eugene Dibiagwu, was scheduled for first reading on Wednesday, taking advantage of legislators cutting short their holiday to pass President Bola Tinubu’s request for amendment to the 2023 budget and the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget.
The bill equally seeks to make it mandatory for Governors to attach portfolios to the list of Commissioner nominees.
The same bill was passed in the last two Constitution amendment exercises but failed to get presidential assent.
It seeks to alter Sections 147 and 192 of the Constitution.
Section 137 of the new bill reads: “(3) Any nomination made by the President pursuant to 7 subsection (2) of this section shall be accompanied by the proposed portfolio(s) to be occupied by such nominee.”
The bill proposes Section 192 to read: “(3) Any nomination made by the Governor of a State pursuant to subsection (2) of this section shall be accompanied by the proposed portfolio(s) to be occupied by such nominee.”
For years, the nomination of Ministers without attached portfolios means Senators have to ask questions blindly because they do not know the specific portfolios of nominees.
Often lawmakers ask questions based on the work experience of a particular nominee.
However, the executive argues the President has the discretion to shuffle the cabinet, therefore, if a nominee is confirmed for a specific portfolio, the President may have to send the Minister back to the Senate for confirmation for a new post.
Ita Enang, former Assistant to former President Muhammadu Buhari, argued during confirmation hearing in 2019 that “It may arise in the course of his assignment that the President or the Governor may decide to reassign him to another ministry.
“If you assign and the person is screened and in respect of that portfolio, that means the President may have to send the name again back to the Senate for screening or for confirmation.”
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