The Senate has said it will intently scrutinize the Ministerial nominees sent to it by President Goodluck Jonathan for approval.
Saying it will not be “bow and go” as before but an opportunity to ensure that the nominees had actual value to add to the service of the nation.
A senator told Nation, “We will subject these nominees to serious screening because they are going to serve in a transition cabinet having been nominated in an election year.
“We are no longer in the era of anything goes; we want to know what they want to do differently. If someone is already 70 or 75 years old and he wants to be a minister, we need to find out what value he intends to add to national development and how he missed the opportunity in his vibrant years.
“We have received information about some people facing corruption charges and those mentioned by Wikileaks in the past. We need to clear these grey areas.”
Another Senator said: “We are awaiting the circulation of the resume of the nominees most of whom are unknown to us. This has given us a challenge to conduct a thorough screening.
“Some of us were disappointed that those, who should really be out of the cabinet have been retained.
“On the surface, we saw the list as weak but since the nominees are unknown to most of us, they are Nigerians who might have achieved silently in their careers. We need to know them; Nigerians ought to have understanding of those who will lead them.”
An opposition Senator said: “After a long wait, the President came with a suspicious list. It appears some of them are coming into the cabinet to run political errands.
“It is not good to base cabinet selection on political sentiments because ministers serve the nation and not parties.”