The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday commenced the screening of ministerial nominees.

Kayode Fayemi, in his opening comments, said 'I am happy we now have a democracy with democrats. I am delighted to be in front of this Senate.

Heavy debts incurred during tenure as Ekiti governor

Senate Whip Adeyeye tells Fayemi, 'You left heavy financial burden on Ekiti and spent unspecified amount of money of govt house'.

Speaking on the debt, Fayemi says, 'About the debt in Ekiti, i'll like to say governance is a continuum, I met obligations in excess of 30BN . 'Road network in Ekiti and other infrastructures significantly improved while I was Governor'

'Ekiti State couldn't have done better as it has done now. I did not borrow to pay Salaries, I borrowed for Capital Projects'.

'Ekiti never had a Govt House, anyone who had a chance to visit knew I was in a 2-bedroom apartment where I couldn't hold a meeting.Ekiti Govt House is the cheapest in Nigeria. I did not buy a N50m bed, I spent only N2.5bn on the Govt House. '

''I did it for Ekiti State & not for myself''.

'Every state borrows, even the United State we look up to is the most indebted country in the world '

Education Sector

Senator Uba asks, 'How would you rescue the education sector and where do you think Nigeria belongs as regards foreign policy'.

Fayemi responds to Senator Uba's concern on the Educational Sector. He says, 'We have not been able to do well in the Technical and Vocational part of our Educational Sector'.

'We have a problem of enrolment. We need to do something about our Curriculum and Teacher Quality'

'We need to do something about our educational quality and quality of our teachers. We need to make our Public Schools attractive and all this boils down to enrollment''.

Foreign Policy

On Foreign policy, Fayemi tells the Senate, 'On Foreign Policy; right now our domestic agenda does not really drive our Foreign Policy. Buhari is doing a lot on Foreign Policy, recognising that our neighbours are our first call of interest'.

'We must balance our interest btw the West and the BRICS Countries'.

'Alternation of Power is the best way to deepen democracy; Not perpetuation of Power'.

''Poverty is not inevitable, we have a lot of countries like China that has lifted it's people from poverty. Poverty is the problem between the mindlessly rich and hopelessly poor'.