The UNN electric car and other matters

By Oguwike Nwachuku

President Muhammadu Buhari sent the list of 43 ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation on Tuesday, July 23.

By Wednesday, July 24 and Thursday, July 25 the screening was ongoing.

In the coming days, hopefully, Nigerians will know what portfolio is assigned to each minister in the federal cabinet.

Meanwhile, different reactions and interpretations greet the nominees.

Some regard the men and women as Buhari’s campaign team, others say much is not expected from them as their faces betray their already known pedigrees.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed the list as uninspiring and without hope for a better Nigeria under Buhari.

Women and feminism advocates also knock a ministerial nomination list that contains only seven women out of 43. They feel shortchanged.

On the screening, I reserve my comment on the “take a bow” or what some people call “carry go” canticle for reasons that are only important to the senate.

I worry because the “take a bow” chant denies Nigerians the opportunity to truly and critically evaluate the nominees’ capacity to field questions, some of which may border on the responsibility that would be thrust on them as ministers.

A friend of mine who mocked the “take a bow” mantra actually suggested that the senate would have invited all 43 nominees at the same time, ask them to “take a bow” and go and serve Nigerians based on their consciences rather than wasting our precious time with the manner of questions, observations and distractions that go with the screening.

The ministerial nominee list was not the only critical thing that attracted the attention of Nigerians during the week.

There was also the fatal protest in Abuja on Monday, July 22 by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).

The group protested the continued incarceration of their leader, Ibrahim El-ZakyZaky, even after a court ordered his bail. Buhari and his administration think otherwise.

During the protest, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, Umar Bebel, and a reporter with Channels Television, Precious Owolabi, were killed.

Several others received injuries.

The police said they are prosecuting 54 people allegedly behind the mayhem, which also led to the destruction of property worth millions of naira and vehicles belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

It was a painful death for the Bebel and Owolabi families whose loved ones, Umar and Precious, could have been hit by stray bullets.

Precious was doing his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme with Channels. He was buried on Thursday in Kaduna and sombre best describes the mood of family and friends who witnessed the rite of passage.

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