JUST IN: Senate Begins Screening of Taiwo Oyedele as Minister

The Senate on Wednesday began the screening of the immediate past Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, following his nomination as Minister of State for Finance.

The screening comes less than 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu forwarded a request to the Senate seeking Oyedele’s confirmation to join the Federal Executive Council, replacing Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite.

In the same communication, the president also asked the Senate to confirm former senator representing Rivers South-East, Magnus Abe, as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

The requests were contained in separate letters read during plenary by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.

In his letter, Tinubu urged the Senate to consider and approve Oyedele’s nomination as part of ongoing adjustments within the Federal Executive Council.

Prior to his nomination, Oyedele, who hails from Ikaram in Akoko, Ondo State, served as chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, where he led efforts to reform Nigeria’s tax system.

Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

Before heading the presidential tax reform committee, he spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, joining the global consulting firm in 2001 and eventually rising to the position of Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

After reading the president’s letters, Akpabio referred the nominations to the Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream for further legislative action, in line with the chamber’s constitutional oversight responsibilities.