The Senate on Thursday approved the appointment of Mr Aliyu Abubakar, as a non-executive commissioner on the board of the National Communications Commission.
Abubakar, from Bauchi State, was nominated last week by President Muhammadu Buhari for the same position despite his rejection by the 8th Senate because of low educational qualifications.
The Senate also confirmed the reappointment of Uba Maska, an engineer from the North-West, as executive commissioner.
Also confirmed for appointments were Prof. Millionaire Abowei from South-South as non-executive commissioner and Abdulazeez Salman from North-Central as non-executive commissioner.
Abubakar’s nomination faced stiff opposition on the grounds that his nomination was rejected by the 8th Senate for having low educational qualification.
The Peoples Democratic Party member representing Adamawa South, Mr Binos Yaru, raised an objection to Abubakar’s nomination.
Yaru was however ruled out of order by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who said the Senate would rely on the report of its panel.
The confirmation followed the recommendation of the ad hoc Committee on the Screening of Presidential Nominees that screened the nominees into the governing board of the NCC.
Its chairman, Senator Teslim Folarin ( Oyo Central), said President Buhari forwarded the names of the nominees for senate confirmation in accordance with section 8(1) of the NCC Act.
He said the committee after scrutinising the résumé of the nominees and carrying out checks on their activities and satisfied that they had no record of indictment, recommended that the chamber confirm their appointments.
The Senate also confirmed the nomination of Prof. Habu Galadima for appointment as the substantive Director-General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
Abubakar was first nominated in 2016 for the position but was rejected by lawmakers in November of that year for lack of adequate training and experience.
