IPAC weighs in on appointment of Petroleum Resources Minister from Niger Delta

The appointment of a Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from the oil-rich Niger Delta region, according to Yabagi Sani, national chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), is sending the “wrong signal.”

Sani, a guest on Thursday’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Channels Television, claimed that confining the appointment to a specific state will instill a sense of entitlement among the Niger Delta’s residents.

On Wednesday, 45 ministerial designations had their portfolios released by President Bola Tinubu. Heineken Lokpobiri, who was born in Bayelsa, was appointed by the President as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

However, President Tinubu did not announce a nominee for the portfolio of Minister of Petroleum Resources.

This omission also highlighted a pattern that existed during the previous administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, who appointed Timipre Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State, as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources while keeping the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to himself.

Commenting on the portfolios of the minister designates, the IPAC chair said, “Unfortunately, this sector (Niger Delta) has been made to look as if people that should be appointed to that ministry should come from Niger Delta. It is a wrong signal because, when you now give people a sense of entitlement their efficiency becomes something that is not given due attention to.”

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“I think we must change that scenario, but if he must do that – not because I am from the North Central – why don’t you give Federal Capital Territory to an indigene of North Central? – if you must be sensational about such very important ministry,” he said.

“What do we do about fighting crude oil theft?” he asked. “Crude oil theft endemically is perpetrated – from what we heard so far is from the people from that area.”

He lamented that if the ministry is reserved to the president, there could be issues lingering on accountability and efficiency in fighting crude oil theft.

“I believe that that ministry is too important for the president to take as another responsibility for himself if that is the intention. The reason is that we have seen the kind of drawbacks we have had in the economy itself as a result of the lack of proper management of that industry (oil and gas sector).

“The president that is already more than occupied now is taking the ministry that he is going to supervise it himself. I am sure we may not see the result of what we want. What we want in that industry is for corruption must be chased out as quickly as we can,” he said.

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