Senate on Wednesday con­firmed Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan’s nomination of former Kano State governor, Mallam Ibra­him Shekarau, Mr. Ade­dayo Adeyeye (Ekiti), Dr. Stephen Oru (Delta) and Dr. Abdul Bulama (Yobe) as ministers.
The chamber grilled the ministers-designate on various topics on the state of the nation, defections, Nigeria’s educational pol­icies as well as the revit­alisation of the power sec­tor. Shekarau and the new ministers agreed that an urgent review of the coun­try’s education curriculum remained the best way to tackle unemployment, poverty and insurgency.
Shekarau,  a two-term governor of Kano State, lamented the high level of unemployment in the country which he linked to the disruption of the Uni­versal Primary Education policy by the successive military administrations in the country.
He maintained that the issue of skills acquisi­tion for Nigerian students at the first three years of secondary education as envisioned in the 6-3-3-4 curriculum should be revisited by government and effectively imple­mented.
Asked by Senator Ad­amu Gumba on his views about politicians defect­ing from one political party to another, Shekarau justified the development as a normal practice, say­ing there had been some inconsistencies in the pol­ity. “The issue of chang­ing political parties, if you read the history of the Americans too, they did worse than what we are doing at the stage at which we are. Ideologies are not imposed, it is an ongoing process.
“Education is the pro­gressive discovery of ig­norance. Gradually, we are learning, we are try­ing to develop. Ideolo­gies will become institu­tionalised by themselves. These movements (de­fections), I don’t totally agree that all the time they are for personal in­terests. They are dictated by circumstances of the political development around the environment you are in. I am sure with time, ideologies will be institutionalised,” he said.
He also identified the immediate fixing of the power sector by the gov­ernment as a critical fac­tor that could assist in solving the problem of unemployment.
On his part, Adey­eye urged the Federal Government to retain the National Youth Ser­vice Corps (NYSC) and called for the scheme to be further strengthened as a veritable vehicle that would catapult Nigerian graduates from their lo­calities to other parts of the country.
Bulama suggested the use of electronic voting system but that it should be test-run with bye-elec­tions.
After their confirma­tion, Senate President David Mark urged the ministers-designate to see the country as their constituency and not their states or political parties. “We hope that whenever they are given portfolios, they will see Nigeria as their constituency and not their states or politi­cal parties,” he said.

Senate confirms Shekarau, Adeyeye, others as ministers