The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs has begun the screening of the 47 Ambassadorial nominees sent to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Monsurat Sumonu, Chairman of the Committee, congratulated the nominees, and noted that the Committee has sacrificed its vacation to conduct the screening exercise in order not to slow down the workings of government.

Controversies had arisen shortly after the Senate received the ambassadorial list from the President as some of the legislators felt their states were deliberately excluded from the process.

A committee was formed by the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, to investigate the complaints, and after their consultations, the committee reported that states that had no representation in the list actually had no qualified candidates, taking into consideration the requirements for the nomination of career diplomats.

This report effectively put the issue to rest, though according to the committee, the federal government had promised to make up for the supposed lopsidedness of the list during the nomination of non-career diplomats.

The screening exercise for the forty-seven nominees is expected to be concluded in the next few days and a confirmation report submitted to the Senate.

It was gathered that questions asked the would-be ambassadors included recitation of the National Anthem.