In what looked like an aberration, the Department of State Services (DSS) is at the moment investigating the 43 ministerial nominees after they were cleared by the Senate. This is the reason for the delay in assigning the new ministers portfolios by President Muhammadu Buhari.

A Presidency source told Political Economist that Buhari had been upbeat about the calibre of persons in the list and is excitedly looking forward to working with them.

It was gathered that the nominees were not cleared by the security agencies before their names were forwarded to the Senate. Asked if this was not a case of putting the cart before the horse, the source said the constitution did not provide for which comes first: security clearance or Senate clearance.

President Buhari had hinted that he would assign portfolios only when the ministers were formally inaugurated.

Against the backdrop of criticisms that the President would have assigned portfolios to the ministers before sending their names to the Senate, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, had justified the refusal of President Buhari to assign portfolios to the list of ministerial nominees he forwarded to the Senate last week.

According to Enang, the Nigerian constitution did not mandate the President to do so, adding the issue has continued to crop up every four years since 1999.

Over the years, lawmakers and members of the  public have continued to demand that the President attaches portfolios of his ministerial nominees when forwarding his list to the Senate for screening.

But Enang said the President did not breach any law by not attaching portfolios to his list.

He said: “The 1999 Constitution says that the President shall appoint persons as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria subject to confirmation of the Senate

“The constitution did not oblige the President or a governor to attach a ministry or a portfolio in his nominations to the legislature.

“The reason is that the candidate is screened and cleared as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; he is not cleared as a Minister of Education or Minister of Health or Industry.

“And of course portfolios may change and the structure of government may not be the same as it were. Again, when a Minister is screened and cleared, he is assigned a portfolio.

“It may arise in the course of his assignment that the President or the Governor may decide to reassign him to another ministry. If you assign and the person is screened and in respect of that portfolio, that means the President may have to send the name again back to the Senate for screening or for confirmation.

“That is why the constitution did not make it mandatory to assign portfolios while sending the list to the legislature. Therefore the President has not done anything wrong, “ he said.