The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Babachir David Lawal said he is ready to appear before the Senate to correct the erroneous impression given by the Upper Chamber on the list of ambassador nominees sent to it by the President.
The Senate had suspended the screening and confirmation of the 47 nominees by the President, noting that the list did not reflect the Federal Character principle as some states were left out, namely Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Plateau states.
The Senate had summon the SGF and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama to appear before the higher chambers on the 11th of July to explain the inconsistencies in the list.
Addressing journalists over the weekend, the SGF stated that while the constitution prescribed nomination of at least one Minister from each state, the President has no such restriction in ambassadorial nominations.
He the matter would have been resolved with just a phone call, rather than suspending deliberation on the list, asserting that delaying the screening of ambassadors even by one day is inimical to the country.
“Certainly, we will appear, we are law abiding, we respect the National Assembly and we respect the laws of the land. One thing however is clear, the constitution makes it clear that it is the prerogative of the president to nominate Ambassadors and the criteria he will use to do so is also the constitutional right of the President. Whatever criteria he chooses to use is constitutional. We acknowledge also that it is also the prerogative of the Senate to approve or not to approve that nomination.
On the Federal Character principle, Lawal said: “Of course we have read in the newspapers some of their concerns such as federal character and so on. At the last count my recollection is that out of the 47 diplomat nominees, …. Out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 32 states were represented. While the constitution preaches federal character, it does not say that every state must be represented in any appointment, except of course in the case of ministers. Not in all other appointments, so the spirit of the constitution has been fully satisfied by having 32 ambassadors out of 36 plus one. I believe that every objective analyst will agree with this.”
According to the SGF, the 4 states had no qualified candidates that met the requirements of the President. He however disclosed that other ambassadorial appointments will come from outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or related agencies that will provide opportunity for the states that didn’t make the list.
