Much Ado About
Much Ado About “Bow and Go”
By Ola Awoniyi
The screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate has come and
gone but the dust it raised may take some time to settle. The
announcement of ministerial nominations is always greeted with
public excitement. And the case was not different this time around
too, for obvious reasons. The President needs ministers to help him
in running the affairs of the country. When the ministers are in
place, it is generally believed the full complement of the
Executive is formed for the business of governance to begin in
earnest. This is why the nation was eager about the composition of
the next Federal Executive Council. President Muhammadu Buhari
eventually forwarded the names of his nominees to the Senate for
screening and approval last week. The public anxiety continued
until last week Tuesday when the list was unveiled at the Senate
plenary by Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan.
The following day, the Senate began the screening after earlier
deciding to postpone its recess for the exercise. The prompt
commencement of the legislative process by the Senate under the
leadership of Senator Lawan is remarkable. It showed the senators
were willing to defer their holiday for what they considered a
national assignment. And the way they went about it was a clear
departure from the past wherein nominees were made to go through
some undefined pre-screening rituals before being invited to the
Red Chamber for formal screening.
Rather than applaud the Senate for that, a well-known
parliamentary practice of giving recognition to former lawmakers,
who by virtue of being in parliament before without abusing their
integrity had fulfilled the condition for their appointment ab
initio, started generating controversy. Eight nominees, out of the
43 on the list, took their turns on Day One. Uchechukwu Ogah, a
nominee from Abia State, was the first to be invited into the
chamber for screening. For almost one hour, the senators feasted on
him. Then former Benue State Governor George Akume, who previously
was also Minority Leader of the Senate, took his turn. Standing on
his feet looking at Akume in his white babariga as he mounted the
podium, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, cleared his
throat and said: “I rose for only one purpose to ensure that
tradition, that convention be respected in perpetuity so that no
question here, other than ‘take a bow and go’ propagated by a few
of our colleagues, be maintained.” The privilege was accorded Akume
as a former two-term senator.
Akume’s case is interesting. Between 2007 and 2015, he not only
had his seat well marked, as others, in the Senate, he also took
part in the screening of nominees of the President more than twice.
“I rise to support that he should be asked to take a bow and go,
given his length of service in this chamber,” said Distinguished
Senator Omo-Agege. It was obvious the DSP spoke the minds of his
other colleagues. The President of the Senate then came point-blank
on the issue: “Let me also remind us that it is a tradition here to
give this privilege, this concession to senators who served in this
chamber or in the House of Representatives or indeed the State
Houses of Assembly. This tradition must continue despite the fact
that some people do not understand it and we need to educate them.”
It is a tradition inherited from previous Senate, which evidently
underscores the importance the lawmakers attach to the institution
of the parliament such that if one has discharged himself or
herself creditably there, he would do even better in other areas
notably in the executive branch.
Not knowing the import of that parliamentary practice and one of
prerequisites for ministerial nomination, which equates it with the
condition for qualification for membership of the House of
Representatives, some Nigerians, among them commentators and
columnists, queried the essence of the screening if all that a
nominee would do at the Senate is to bow and take his leave. I
admit that asking these former lawmakers some questions may refresh
the memories of their new colleagues and indeed Nigerians about the
character and competence they had earlier demonstrated in
parliament. It may also be a needless exercise because the former
lawmakers had abinitio met the condition for their nominations.
Ita Enang, Special Adviser on Senate Matters to President
Buhari, who was formerly in the House of Representatives and Senate
and indeed in charge of Rules and Business, first in the House and
later in the Senate for several years, put this issue succinctly.
According to him, the practice of “take a bow and go” is not new
and not peculiar to the Nigerian Senate. “It is a tradition that
started in the United Kingdom and the United States parliament and
has become a parliamentary tradition everywhere.” Enang knows his
onions and knows well the rules guiding confirmation hearings. If
that practice deserves a review as some honestly canvass, I think
the Senate will not hesitate do so accordingly. The point, however,
is some of those who criticised the practice and erroneously called
the upper chamber and its leadership all kinds of names would wish
to be at the receiving end of that privilege if previously in
parliament and now appeared on the ministerial list.
But before we go for tinkering with that established practice,
it is important to know the intention of the law in assigning the
all-important confirmation of ministers and other key appointments
of the president to the Senate. In carrying out that task, the
Nigerian Constitution asks the Senate to ensure the president
complies with certain provisions. For ministerial nomination,
Chapter 6 Part 1 Section 147 is very apposite here.
Subsection (2) of this section states: “Any appointment to the
office of Minister of the Government of the Federation shall, if
the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the
Senate, be made by the President. Subsection (3): Any appointment
under subsection (2) of this section by the President shall be in
conformity with the provisions of Section 14 (3) of the
Constitution;- provided that in giving effect to the provisions
aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from
each State, who shall be an indigene of such State. Subsection (5):
No person shall be appointed as a Minister of the Government of the
Federation unless he is qualified for election as a member of the
House of Representatives.”
I consider the scrupulous application of these criteria as the
real purpose of the confirmation screening. The same critics of the
just-concluded process would have accused the Senate of
over-reaching itself if it had done more than prescribed by the
law. It would have been more helpful though if the President had
provided the Senate the portfolios of the would-be ministers in
which case the Senate would assess their competence and
appropriateness against the portfolios assigned them. Again,
ministerial nomination is the prerogative of the President and the
Constitution does not mandate him to assign portfolio to nominees
forwarded to the Senate. As such no one can blame President
Buhari.
This is where those who equate Senate screening to a job
interview miss the point. For a job interview, the candidate knows
what to prepare for and the interviewers the questions relevant to
specific jobs. In this case, neither the nominees nor the Senators
know the portfolios the president intends for the nominees. Unless
they speculate based on the educational or professional experience
of a nominee, all the senators can do with those they did not know
or those that had not passed through their institution previously
is ask general questions that may give little insight about them
and how they may perform as ministers.
Awoniyi is the Special Adviser on Media to the President of the
Senate