Once again, the much-awaited ministerial list of President Bola Tinubu has been delayed, with its unveiling now set to take place on Thursday, July 27, the last day permitted by the Constitution. The list was initially scheduled to be read out in the Senate on Tuesday, but discussions on the matter were put on hold during the closed session, and the announcement was postponed.
The Majority Leader, Senator Bamidele Opeyemi, moved the motion to push back the unveiling without providing a specific reason, and the Minority Leader, Senator Simon Davou Mwadkwon, supported the move. The list was submitted to the Senate by President Tinubu last week, but it is believed that certain modifications were made, leading to the postponement.
Later in the day, Senator Bamidele revealed that the list would be received by the Senate within the next 48 hours, which would bring the presentation to the following day. The President called Senator Bamidele to explain that he needed to be unavailable for the next 48 hours due to a crucial correspondence that must be submitted to the Senate.
Meanwhile, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, announced that Aba will soon be independently powered through the Geometric Power Limited’s power plant within one or two months. The power plant, located in Alaoji Aba, is expected to add 188 megawatts to Nigeria’s electricity output, providing the city with reliable power supply.
In another development, the Senate witnessed a heated session when Senator Adams Oshiomhole accused senators of the ninth Assembly who did not return of looting their offices at the end of their tenure last month. Senator Solomon Adeola’s privilege was breached by Oshiomhole’s allegation, leading to a call for Oshiomhole to apologize to the Senate. However, after discussions, Oshiomhole clarified that he did not accuse senators of looting their offices but stated that offices were vandalized.
Furthermore, the Senate urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to halt their proposed tariff increase and to supply all electricity consumers with prepaid meters at affordable rates across the country. The Senate called for a stop to estimated billing and asked DisCos to allow Nigerian communities to recover their cost of buying electricity transformers before billing them.
As the country awaits the official announcement of Tinubu’s ministerial list and grapples with electricity tariff concerns, political developments continue to draw attention and interest in Nigeria.
