Oil And Gas Stakeholders React As President Tinubu May Head Petroleum Ministry

Indications are that President Bola Tinubu, just like his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, might assign himself the portfolio of the Petroleum Ministry.

This online medium recalls that the president on Wednesday unveiled the portfolios of 45 ministers.

The ministers will be sworn in by the President at the State House Conference, Aso Villa, Abuja, on Monday.

The development was contained in a statement issued by the Director, Information Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey.

However, the Ministry for petroleum resources had no substantive minister, but the President appointed former Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

This development has, however, raised speculations that President Tinubu, just like Buhari, might want to head the ministry himself.

It would be recalled that Buhari named himself the minister of petroleum resources during his first term, and he continued in that role during his second tenure as well.

Reacting to this development, stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have said they don’t have any challenge with President Bola Tinubu assigning himself the position of a petroleum ministry.

According to them, they are optimistic that President Tinubu is up to the task, noting that his appointment of former Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources will argument the office if he eventually takes up the role.

In his reaction to this, the General Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Lumumba Okugbawa, said there was nothing wrong with the President occupying the position of petroleum minister.

He said if his predecessor, Buhari, could handle the office, then he has no doubt, Tinubu is up to the task.

Okugbawa told The Punch that “All the ministers report to the President, so for him to hold the position of petroleum minister doesn’t really matter much. What we should demand is for him to perform. So it doesn’t really matter that he decided to hold that position.

“Since they’ve given somebody the position of Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, it doesn’t matter that the President is the petroleum minister. By the way, all the ministers report to the President.”

Also, the Convener of the globally acclaimed OTL Africa Downstream, a leading initiative for downstream petroleum business in Africa, Emeka Akabogu, said, “If he is competent enough to be the president of Nigeria, then he is competent to also be the petroleum minister. Whether the President is competent enough or not is of no consequence; he is the appointer, he is the commander in chief, so he has the prerogative of what to do and what not to do.

‘’We can only hope that it is done effectively; we can only hope that the ministers of states that he has appointed are able to discharge their functions to the benefit of Nigerians.”