Senate Confirms Nomination Of Three Ministers

The Nigerian Senate has confirmed three additional ministerial nominees sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.

The nominees who were screened and confirmed were Balarabe Abbas Lawal from Kaduna State, Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim from Kwara State and Ayodele Olawande from Ondo State.

The three nominees were confirmed after their screening which was presided over by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Their confirmation comes a day after President Tinubu wrote to the Senate, seeking its confirmation of the nominees.

About two and a half hours after the exercise commenced around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Senate President Godwill Akpabio put the nominations to a voice vote.

The senators voted in favour of the nominees’ confirmation.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu appointed Ibrahim and Olawande as the Minister of Youth and Minister of State for Youth, respectively, in September.

The position of Minister of Youth became vacant after the president redeployed Abubakar Momoh to the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.

President Tinubu also nominated Abbas to replace the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who was not screened and cleared by the Senate due to security reasons.

The president’s request to confirm the nominees was premised on Section 147(2) of the constitution as amended.

The screening began on Wednesday after the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion to the effect.