WITH the return of the newly-inaugurated members of the Ninth National Assembly from their first break, the next major assignment for the Senate is the screening and approval of ministerial nominees sent by President Muhammadu Buhari.

THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has entered a new phase in the developmental functions as it relates to its jurisdictional mandate as pursued under the Godwin Emefiele-led regime in the first term, 2014-2019.

THE Presidency has been issuing conflicting signals on exactly what it intends to do with the Almajiri education system which ends up breeding child beggars, especially in the Muslim-dominated areas of Northern Nigeria.

The answer may not be far-fetched: the Federal Government is defaulting in its promise to pay whistle-blowers. The policy had promised to pay within 30 days of the receipt of a recovered fund a “flat and definite reward of two and half per cent of the recovered sum” which must be N5bn and above.

IN May 2017, the International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF, mistakenly remitted $150, 000 in the process of paying $15, 000 to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, being its financial obligations to all member federations. Upon the discovery of the error a few days later, IAAF requested Nigeria to refund $135, 000.

AS President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to unfold his ministerial nominees for onward transmission to the Senate for screening and possible approval it should not surprise anyone that it is generating keen interest among Nigerians.

IT would seem that heavy criticism of the major political parties for their prohibitive cost of nomination forms for elective offices have fallen on deaf ears.

This absentee governance syndrome projects the image that elected officials feel too big to live among the people they govern, educate their children within their jurisdictions, attend the same hospitals and use the same infrastructure or lack of it within the community.

Perhaps it is too late to expect President Muhammadu Buhari to deviate from the path perfected by his predecessors and toed by himself in 2015 – keeping the portfolios of his ministerial nominees secret until they have been cleared by the Senate.

RECENTLY, the new Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, working together, were able to initiate reconciliatory moves between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Emir Muhammadu Sanusi.