The persistent crisis in the oil sector is fueling calls on President Bola Tinubu to step aside as the Minister of Petroleum.
According to reports, despite the sudden removal of fuel subsidy the same day the President assumed office, Nigerians are yet to witness stability in the sector.
Tinubu had on Wednesday dashed the expectations of several Nigerians agitating for a rejig in the petroleum ministry.
Recall that in a significant cabinet shakeup during the 19th Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja last Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu approved the removal of five ministers believed to be underperforming.
Tinubu also re-assigned 10 ministers to new portfolios and nominated seven new ministerial appointees for onward screening and confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
However, prior to the shake-ups, stakeholders and some Civil Society Organizations had called on Tinubu to resign as Petroleum Minister.
The president was also asked to remove some bigwigs in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL to ensure transparency in the oil sector.
Earlier reported that the controversies surrounding the removal and alleged return of fuel subsidy and the NNPCL’s inability to revive the local refineries after a series of failed promises had triggered calls for investigations into the sector.
In August this year, the Port Harcourt Refinery, a company under the management of the NNPCL in Rivers State, failed to commence operations after about six postponements.
Promises made to Nigerians by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPCL about the refinery’s operation failed multiple times.
Recall that the Energy Reforms Advocates of Nigeria, in collaboration with the All Progressives Congress, APC Youth Vanguard for Change had on Friday lamented that despite the “$1.5 billion approved in 2021 for the Port Harcourt Refinery and an additional $1.4 billion for the Warri and Kaduna refineries”, the facilities are yet to function.
Surprised over Tinubu’s failure to rejig the oil sector, some stakeholders told newsmen in separate interviews, weekend, that proper supervision and investigation into alleged sharp practices within the NNPCL may be relatively impossible until the president resigns as minister.
Tinubu should willingly vacate office of Minister – Former VON DG, Osita Okechukwu
The immediate past Director General, DG of Voice of Nigeria, VON, Mr Osita Okechukwu said it would be strategic if president Tinubu willingly vacates the office of Petroleum Minister.
In a chat, Osita argued that it is absolutely impossible for the Coordinating Policy Unit of the ministry headed by Hadiza Bala Usman to “monitor or even take a cursory glance at the Petroleum Ministry as it would amount to supervising her principal, the President”.
Osita, who is one of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, also stated that “the failure to make any of the country’s four refineries functional made Nigerians to lose faith in democracy”.
According to him, the non functionality of the local refining facilities has “generated hunger and multidimensional poverty” across the country.
“Nigeria has also over the years suffered great economic haemorrhage by squandering over $70 billion on importation of refined petroleum products as well as undue imbalance on the country’s foreign exchange earnings”, he added.
The APC chieftain urged Tinubu to “complete the reshuffle process by relinquishing the post of Minister of Petroleum Resources as a matter of urgent national importance.
“This step would go a long way to stem, if not weed out the buccaneer antics of the less than transparent Oil Mafia”.
You can’t be president and Minister at the same time – HURIWA to Tinubu
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has also frowned at President Tinubu’s decision to remain Minister of Petroleum, saying it does not make any logical sense for a president to also occupy the office of a minister.
In an interview, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said in a place where things are done correctly, “it is completely inappropriate” for Tinubu to be Petroleum Minister.
He said, “Ideally, President Tinubu is not supposed to have another appointment outside his presidential office. It is not correct for a president of a country to still occupy the position of Minister.
“It doesn’t make any logical sense. Aside from the issue of allowing for investigation in the sector, in a place where things are done right, the president is not supposed to have a ministerial position attached to his office. It is completely inappropriate”.
Speaking on the cabinet reshuffling, Onwubiko said the “minor changes that happened in the cabinet is not enough to make any serious impact in the nation’s economy.
“The president did not reduce the number of ministers. This won’t have any significant role in reducing the cost of governance. About 75 percent of the entire ministerial cabinet ought to be moved out.
“Removing just five when you know that half of the cabinets need to go, will not make any difference”.
His position is shielding evil in the sector – PDP chieftain, Aondoakaa
Similarly, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Benue State, Dr Aondoakaa Theophilus said president Tinubu’s position is “shielding evils in the oil sector”.
According to the former council chairman, “the reason why no action has been taken against the NNPCL is because Tinubu is in charge.
“It will be difficult to investigate a president when he is still in power, so what is happening in the sector is that his position is shielding the corruption going on in the NNPCL.
“As it is right now, investigating the petroleum ministry is like investigating activities in Aso Rock.
“The president is in charge. His position in the sector has also crippled the lawmakers. Nobody would want to investigate a ministry that the president is heading.
“Tinubu should resign as a matter of urgency. He should find a competent Nigerian to head the sector so that he can be focused on governance. I don’t want to believe that there is something he is benefiting from”.
However, Mr Jerry Adakwu, a public affairs analyst said that “the ministry is too sensitive for Tinubu to give to someone else”.
“President Tinubu wasn’t the first president to be in that position. Former President, Mohammed Buhari also appointed himself as Petroleum Minister.
“I’m not sure that his position is affecting the sector negatively. However, if there is anyone that has been caught in the web of corruption, the president should not hesitate to fire the individual”, he said.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday, said his principal has never ascribed to himself the position of the Minister of Petroleum.
Onanuga said the Petroleum Ministry has two ministers supervised by President Tinubu.
The presidential spokesman disclosed this while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“The President has never called himself the Minister of Petroleum; it’s you people in the media.
“We have two ministers and as far as this President is concerned, we have two ministers of petroleum, and one of them focuses on gas.
“That’s an area that this government discovered in the past that Nigeria neglected and Nigeria is more of a gas country than an oil country; President Tinubu is focusing on gas.
“Recently, Obasanjo said he made a mistake during his time by not focusing on gas and Tinubu is rectifying that by making sure we focus on gas.
“The president supervises all his ministers; he’s in charge of everything,” he stated.