Tinubu to submit names of 13 fresh nominees, create new ministries —Gbajabiamila

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will in the coming days, send another set of 13 ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation, his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila has said.

Gbajabiamila also disclosed that President Tinubu intends to separate portfolios or restructure certain ministries that will lead to new ones.

“Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way that you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before,” he said while speaking to State House correspondents hours after submitting the ministerial list to the Senate.

Speaking on how the names of the 28 submitted to Senate emerged, Gbajabiamila said: “Mr President took his time to sift through those names. He dissected those names with a fine-tooth comb.

“That’s what you have seen. Everyone, I believe, of the persons on that list is worth being on that list.

“But I hope we haven’t missed anything that would have necessitated any name not being on that list.”

Read also: Senate suspends vacation to commence screening of Tinubu’s ministerial nominees on Monday

He further stated that the names were sent to the Senate without specific portfolios attached to give the President enough flexibility to decide who handles what portfolio.

He said: “I like the idea of attaching portfolios because it makes it necessary for the Senate to know exactly what you’re asking and looking for.

“As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the President to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other. What happens if he changes his mind? Do you then bring the person back for screening again? This is because the President is at liberty to change his mind.

“But for now, it’s been thought wise that we stick to the tradition of sending the names and then while the screening processes are going on, it allows Mr President and his team to look at the portfolios and the characters and see how they fit.”

He also explained that President Tinubu is sure that all the nominees can “fit in anywhere” except for specialised offices such as the Attorney-General.

On the remaining nominees, he said the “12 or maybe 13 will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days”, adding that the cabinet should be fully formed and functioning within the next two weeks.

“Work should start in earnest for them in the next week or two because I don’t see the Senate wasting too much time in the confirmation, not because they’re not going to do a thorough job, they will do a thorough job.

“But they will balance it with the knowledge that in this time that we are in, time is of the essence”, Gbajabiamila added.

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