ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan held final consultations with senior ruling party officials and state governors on Monday as he decides who should be in his new cabinet, presidency sources said.
Jonathan sacked all government ministers last Wednesday in a bid to assert his authority a month after assuming executive powers and the fast appointment of a new team could do much to alleviate uncertainty in Africa's most populous nation.
Presidency sources have said Jonathan will submit his list of nominees by the end of Tuesday to the Senate for approval and that he is likely to reappoint around half of the outgoing cabinet.
"The nominees have sailed through security screening so the list will definitely go to the Senate by today or tomorrow," one of the presidency sources said, asking not to be identified.
"The Senate has given assurances that they will expedite action on the confirmation of the nominees so we expect the confirmation process also to start this week," the source said.
Jonathan took over as acting head of state in early February, ending months of near-paralysis in government due to the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who was receiving treatment for a heart ailment in a Saudi clinic.
Yar'Adua has since returned to Nigeria but remains too sick to govern. Sources in the presidency say he is in a mobile intensive care unit and Jonathan has been unable to see him.
Choosing a new cabinet which retains a large number of ministers suggests Nigeria's broad policy direction is unlikely to change and could let Jonathan push ahead more authoritatively with his agenda in the 14 months left of this presidential term.
Sources have said former Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia is likely to be nominated as the new oil minister in the OPEC member nation while outgoing Defence Minister Godwin Abbe, who has overseen an amnesty programme in the oil-producing Niger Delta, would likely be re-appointed.
(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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