The Senate has decided to postpone its annual recess in order to screen President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees.
The lawmakers had planned to embark on the vacation on Thursday. The recess usually lasts for about seven weeks.
The decision to postpone the recess was reached after the upper chamber received the list of ministerial nominees.
The Senate’s acting spokesperson, Adedayo Adeyeye, disclosed the resolution to journalists after plenary on Tuesday.
He said the decision was made to hasten the screening process of the appointees.
The president sent the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate and it was announced on Tuesday morning. The list includes 43 appointees and was read on the floor of the Senate at the start of plenary.
The Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, who read out the letter, stated that the screening process will commence on Wednesday.
Briefing journalists, Mr Adeyeye said the Senate has also resolved to suspend its rules and hold plenary on odd days.
“We have postponed the recess till next week, end of next week. We are suspending a lot of our rules.
“Plenary normally does not hold on Fridays, plenary will hold on Friday this week and Monday next week in other to hasten the process. We want to do a thorough job and we want Nigerians to know that we are doing a thorough job. It is going to be a lot of sacrifice on our path.
“We are going to work in unusual hours, normally we sit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., that will not apply till during this confirmation hearing. We are going to sit till very late, virtually every day. On Friday, we will sit till we are tired. We will go on a brief recess and might proceed until 10 p.m.
“We have given ourselves enough time, we will work in unusual hours,” he said.
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