President Muhammadu Buhari is to take personal charge of the country’s crucial oil portfolio, his spokesman said on Tuesday, as a deadline loomed for him to finally nominate his cabinet.
Reports from New York, where Buhari has been attending the UN General Assembly, quoted the president as saying he would be minister of petroleum resources, with a junior minister taking charge of day-to-day affairs in the sector.
“Confirmed. He said so,” his spokesman Femi Adesina told AFP in a text message, without giving further details.
Nigeria — Africa’s number one crude producer and biggest economy — has been hit badly by a slump in global crude prices since last year, squeezing government revenue.
The president has vowed to recover large sums of stolen oil cash, starting with a drastic overhaul of state-run oil firm the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
The NNPC has become a synonymous to corruption and last year was accused of failing to remit $20 billion in revenue to the central bank.
Buhari helped establish the NNPC in 1977 as oil minister under military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was later in charge of the Petroleum Trust Fund during the time of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s.
Buhari’s caution in appointing ministers has seen him nicknamed “Baba Go Slow” in Nigeria, but he has promised to name his cabinet by Wednesday.
The post Buhari To Make Himself Petroleum Minister appeared first on citypeople.com.ng.
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