Ministerial nominees not pushover, but digital – says Ngige

A onetime governor of Anambra, Sen. Chris Ngige, on Friday said there was no pushover in the first batch of ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate for screening by President Muhammadu Buhari. Ngige stated this while reacting to questions from State House Correspondents, after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He expressed optimism that the nominees would assist the President to deliver on his campaign promises to Nigerians. “If you look at the list very critically, you will observe Mr President want to go his voyage with people who have cognate experience in governance. “When I mean cognate experience, we are talking of people who have been tested, tried and trusted by their various people. “So, I don’t think Nigerians should expect anything less than what Mr President is already doing from that team. “The team will help Mr President to deliver on most of the promises he made to Nigerian people, in fact much more quickly than is even envisaged because I don’t think there is anybody on that list that you can call a pushover in terms of government business,’’ he said. Ngige, who is one of the ministerial nominees, frowned at those criticising the President for not attaching portfolio to the names of the nominees. According to him, the Constitution does not say that the President must attach portfolio.He stated that the constitution only prescribed that those to be appointed as ministers must have qualifications that would enable them to be members of the House of Representatives. “That is the minimum and you know that the age of the House of Representatives is lower than that of the Senate and the educational qualifications as enshrined in the Constitution. There is nothing there about not attaching portfolios. “The President is taking it slowly according to his words. When people say he his Baba go slow, he said; yes, yes that he will go slow and steadily and steadily we shall get there. “In other climes like America and other developed world, they attach portfolios and that is what their constitution says.’’ Ngige dismissed the insinuation that some of the ministerial nominees were “analogue and old school’’. “Am I analogue? Don’t let Anambra people hear that you called me analogue. I am digital and I don’t know who is analogue on that list,’’ he concluded.