13th October, 2015
Eromosele Ebhomele
The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday held a general screening for nominees of the state Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for commissioners and Special Advisers.
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa explained that 28 nominees out of 37 were present when the sitting began.
Eight nominees arrived after the sitting had begun.
The Speaker also said one of the nominees, a female, called him to plead that she was still in the United Kingdom and would not meet the screening.
The Speaker said a date would be fixed for the nominee’s separate screening and confirmation.
A 15-man committee of the House, led by Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni, the Deputy Speaker, had screened the nominees secretly last week with the report of the committee presented on floor of the House on Tuesday in the presence of the nominees.
In place of taking the report as was the usual case, however, the House called for a Committee of the Whole under which each commissioner-nominee was called out by the Speaker to introduce himself, speak about his experience with the 15-man committee and take his seat.
Obasa said the nominees should speak about their experiences with the committees because there had been rumour that the secret screening came with other unethical practices.
Each of the nominees took his time to introduce himself and commend the committee for carrying out a professional screening exercise.
Steve Ayorinde, a former Managing Director of National Mirror, was first to introduce himself.
He explained that the committee that screened him was passionate about Lagos and wanted the success of the state government.
The next to appear was the Imam of the Lagos State House of Assembly and former lawmaker, Abdul-Lateef Abdul-Hakeem, who also commended the House for setting up the committee to screen them as it did a professional job.
Jide Idris, a former Commissioner for Health in the last administration, also spoke glowingly of the committee.
Two female former members of the House, Lola Akande and Adebimpe Akinsola, thanked the Assembly for the several training they went through while in the seventh Assembly, revealing that the trainings had assisted them in various ways.
Other nominees that had faced the lawmakers at the time of this report included Folarin Coker, Suarau Isiaka Toyin, Folami Muslim, Agboola Dabiri, Mudirat Aramide, Professor Ademola Abass, Babatunde Adejare, a former member of the House of Representatives, Gbolahan Lawal, a former Commissioner in the Babatunde Fashola administration, Benjamin Labinjo, former chairman of Ojokoro Local Council Development Area and Kehinde Bamigbetan, former chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area.
The sitting was ongoing at the time of this report. It is however believed that the nominees would be confirmed.