Thirteen more ministerial nominees are under way, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila has revealed.
He, however, did not give when these names would be submitted to the Senate.
Gbajabiamila had submitted the first batch of 28 names on Thursday which was the last day permitted by the constitution.
The president is expected to submit ministers’ list to the Senate in line with section 42(a) of the constitution, which states that “The nomination of any person to the office of a minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the president has taken the oath of office”.
Of the 28 names submitted, 25 states were represented which include Ebonyi, Rivers, Jigawa, Kaduna, Edo, Bauchi, Katsina, Enugu, Cross River, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Ondo and Delta.
The rest are Anambra, Sokoto, Ekiti, Kwara, Niger,Ogun, Oyo, Nasarawa, Benue, Borno and Taraba.
Gbajabiamila said the coming 13 ministerial nominees will come from the states that did not make the first batch which include Lagos, Kano, Yobe, Kebbi, Gombe, Plateau, Kogi, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Adamawa and Osun as well as the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
He said President Bola Tinubu would create new ministries to accommodate those states which did not make the first list as well as those who worked for his success in the election.
According to the President’s CoS, “Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before. So, the process continues.”
“As you know, he had 60 days from the time of inauguration, as stipulated in the constitution. He has fulfilled that requirement of the constitution by submitting 28 names today.
“As his letter stated, and was read on the floor of the Senate, the remaining names, not sure how many, probably about 12, maybe 13, will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.
“As far as the nominees themselves are concerned, and like I said, Mr President took his time to sift through those names,” he said.
He also said the president decided to toe the line of tradition by not attaching the portfolio of the nominees in the letter to the senate in order to give room for reviews.
“As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the president to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other. What happens then if you change your mind, do you then bring the person back for screening again, because the president is at liberty to change your mind.
“For instance, if I decide I want somebody as minister of labour, and then after sending the name, later on, I decide that this person would actually be better with another portfolio. And meanwhile, the Senate has screened that person for that particular initial portfolio?
“What happens then? Do you now re-screen the person? So, a lot of these things have their merits and demerits,” the Chief of Staff said.
