As the nation awaits President Muhammadu Buhari’s
ministerial list, the President on Tuesday said he would
head the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Buhari dropped the hint in one of the interviews he granted
one of the foreign media in his hotel shortly before
departing New York.
The President was in New York to participate in the 70th
United Nations General Assembly.
“I will serve as the Minister of Petroleum Resources
myself,” Buhari told his interviewer.
The nation’s petroleum sector has been said to be enmeshed
in corruption with millions of dollars said to be missing in
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Shortly after assuming office, Buhari sacked and replaced
the management of the company.
The new management had started a general reorganisation
of the firm.
Buhari had on Monday said the trial of those who looted
the NNPC would commence soon.
Meanwhile, ministerial list that President Muhammadu
Buhari will submit to the Senate on Wednesday (today)will
not contain all the members of his proposed cabinet, THE
PUNCH has learnt.
Buhari was inaugurated on May 29, having defeated
former President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential
election held in March.
Investigation by one of our correspondents on Tuesday
revealed that what would be transmitted to the Senate this
week would not be a complete list of nominees.
A top government official familiar with the arrangement
confided in one of our correspondents that Buhari would
send the names of the nominees to the Senate in batches.
“What the Senate will be getting on Tuesday or Wednesday
will not be a complete list. The names will be sent in batches
but quite a number will be on this first list while others will
be compiled and sent later,” the source said.
The President may have decided to send the names in
batches in order to meet the September deadline he set for
himself rather than waiting to compile the full list and fail
to beat the deadline.
Efforts made by one of our correspondents to get an insight
into the list of the first batch of would-be ministers did not
however yield any positive result on Tuesday.
The issue of the list has however been generating concerns
among members of Buhari’s delegation to the 70th United
Nations General Assembly holding in New York.
Many of the politicians on the President’s delegation who
felt they might be considered for ministerial positions were
getting in touch with Nigeria intermittently on the telephone
for latest information on the list while they also kept
making themselves visible for Buhari.
Some of them who could not hide their anxiety were heard
asking Nigerian journalists if they had latest information
on the list.
Prominent chiefs of the All Progressives Congress on the
President’s delegation include a former Rivers State
Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; a former Ekiti State Governor,
Kayode Fayemi; and a former member of the House of
Representatives, Abike Dabiri-Erewa among others.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said on
Tuesday that his leadership would not employ vendetta in
the screening of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s wise
men.
Saraki, who stated this in his welcome address to his
colleagues at a plenary after their six-week recess,
expressed confidence that Nigeria’s economy would
experience a turn-around with the appointment of
ministers.
He said, “As we await the list of ministerial nominees this
week, I believe the presence of ministers will create the
space for greater policy engagement with the executive arm
of government.
“It will also enable us to begin to respond in a more
systematic manner to the various economic and social
challenges before us, especially through our various
committees that will also be constituted soon.
“On this note, I want to urge you all my colleagues to ensure
that what is uppermost in our minds as we begin the
constitutional task of screening of ministerial nominees is
the overall interest of our country, informed by the
enormity and the urgency of the challenges before us.
“Once the list is submitted, let us ensure that we treat it
with dispatch and thoroughness. We must not be held down
by unnecessary politicking.”
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