B Mfonobong Ukpong
Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly will on Thursday 23rd July, 2020 screen nominees for appointment into the State Executive Council as Commissioners and Special Advisers.
The House of Assembly had last week received a list of 8 nominees forwarded to the lawmakers by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Already, the House of Assembly Committee on Justice, Human Rights and Public Petitions which conducted a preliminary screening on the eight nominees has concluded it’s assignment. Speaking with Assembly Correspondents, Tuesday at Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort, venue of the screening exercise shortly after concluding his committee’s task, Chairman of the committee, Hon. Barr. Victor Ekwere said his committee took four of the nominees on Monday and concluded with the remaining four on Tuesday.
He explained that the exercise was smooth, disclosing that the committee had not received any petition against the nominees. Ekwere who represents Mkpat-Enin State Constituency in the State Assembly described their nominarion as ‘fantastic, and expressed hope that they would add value to the state executive council.
The lawmaker said with the conclusion of the preliminary screening by his committee, the next step would be the confirmation and ratification of the nominees by the House of Assembly after his committee would have submitted report to the House for further legislative action.
“As a committee we’ve done the needful and we’ve concluded our assignment. We screened 4 of the nominees on Monday and today we’ve completed the 4 that were left”
” Everything being equal and with the approval of Mr. Speaker, the next step is their confirmation or otherwise. We’ve not received petition from any quarters”.
Recall that Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey had given the screening committee, one week to complete its assignment and report back to the House.
The exercise which commenced on Monday, had Prof. Eno Ibanga, Dr. Ini Adiakpan , Comrade (Barr) Ini Ememobong and Hon. Frank Archibong screened while, Dr. Augustine Vincent Umoh, Imoh Moffat, Elder Amanam Nkanang and Mrs Enobong Mbobo took their turn yesterday(Tuesday).
Other members of the committee in attendance during the screening include, the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Felicia Bassey, the House Leader, Rt. Hon. Udo Kierian Akpan, Hon. Barr. Ese Umoh, Rt. Hon. Mark Esset, Rt. Hon. Uduak Odudoh, Rt. Hon. Anefiok Dennis, Hon. Barr. Otobong Bob, and Rt. Hon. Idongesit Ntekpere, among others.
This reporter can authoritatively report that the screening exercise will hold tomorrow (Thursday) at the Assembly complex. Already, the state owned broadcasting outfit, AKBC TV and Radio service will cover live proceedings from the House of Assembly.
