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Senate Begins Ministerial Nominees Screening …Invites Security Chiefs Over Bombing
The Senate will begin the screening of ministerial nominees to enable President Goodluck Jonathan to constitute his cabinet, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba said.
Ndoma-Egba spoke at a news conference after a closed-door meeting of the Senate, stressing: “the Senate is ready for the screening of the nominees.”
The President had sent a list of 34 persons to be considered for ministerial positions.
Ndoma-Egba said the Senate had no reason to delay the screening, adding: “we will begin the process tomorrow to enable Mr President constitute his cabinet.’’
He said that part of the discussion at the meeting was to bring the new senators up to speed on the modalities of screening.
Ndoma-Egba said that senators would be guided by the mood of the Senate and that “every nominee will be subjected to the same grid.’’
Commenting on the appointment of Special Advisers, he said the Senate only needed to approve the number of those to be appointed as advisers as requested by the President.
On the security measures taken by the management of the National Assembly (NASS), Ndoma-Egba said “there is going to be lots of inconveniences for senators, staff, guests, friends and even you journalists.
“These are very unusual times that require us to adopt unusual measures.”
He, therefore, appealed to the staff and members of the public to show understanding while the management of NASS continued to implement the measures.
Mark also announced the receipt of a separate letter from Jonathan informing the Senate of his desire to appoint 20 Special Advisers to be part of his cabinet.
The Senate President further read another letter from Jonathan nominating Mr Frank Chineke for confirmation by the Senate, as a member representing Rivers in the Board of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday resolved to invite heads of all security agencies to give detailed briefings on the incessant bomb explosions in the country attributed to the Boko Haram sect.
The interactive session,Enang said the act and other acts of terrorism in the country must be condemned as they were an embarrassment to the country’s security system.
Contributing to the debate, Sen. Ayogu Eze (PDP-Enugu) said the sixth Senate had ended its session discussing the issue of security in the country and as such the matter had gone beyond paying lip-service.
He said that intensive and critical investigations must be carried out to determine the issues involved and solutions proffered.
“It is a matter that should go beyond paying lip-service.
“And we should look at some of the critical factors behind what is happening because the terrorists, as they are branded, have some reasons like failures within the system that must have prompted their actions.
“We must begin to look at some of these causes as well as put measures in place to secure our nation because this is gradually becoming a national embarrassment.’’
He said that if a solution was not proffered immediately, it might result to foreigners, especially investors, refusing to visit the country due to fear for their lives.
In his contribution, Senator George Sekibo (PDP-Rivers) expressed concern over the apparent lack of security in the country to the extent that the nation nearly lost its chief security officer.
Sekibo expressed regret that bomb explosions had become a recurring decimal in the country and as such urgent steps must be taken to curb the trend.
“How can our security system be so low that we almost lost our I-G (Inspector-General of Police)?
“ It is also alarming that the act was carried out in the premises of the chief law enforcement agent where there are bomb detectors and yet a bomb went in and exploded there.
“It has gone out of control and we must support the Federal Government to find solution to this predicament.’’
Senator Olushola Adeyeye (ACN-Osun Central) also challenged the Senate to summon enough courage to put a stop to the violence in the country.
“I believe there is sufficient wisdom in this chamber to examine the problems and proffer solution because this is not a problem we can leave in the hands of the executive alone.’’
Senator Awaisu Kuta, (PDP-Niger), however, cautioned security agents to guard their utterances in order not to aggravate the matter further.
In a remark, Senate President David Mark said that once there was a security lapse, so many people would be inconvenienced.
Mark said that security was an expensive venture that could not be taken for granted and warned that if the issue was not tackled now, it would become more expensive to manage.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
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