It is very hilarious and disbelieving as the President of the
Federal republic of Nigeria General
buhari Opened up his view to handle the petroleum affairs of this nation by
himself. He said this in an interview granted at 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.
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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