- Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have been told to quit as the minister of petroleum and concentrate on his presidential duties
- Two public commentators Baba Yusuf and Femi Odeere made this call and argued that retaining the office of petroleum minister for himself has hindered improvement of the country’s daily oil production
- They spoke day after President Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet and sacked some ministers who underperformed after his one year in office
Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.
Two public commentators have asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to surrender his officer as substantive minister of petroleum to a competent Nigerian.
Baba Yusuf tells Tinubu to resign as petroleum minister
Baba Yusuf and Femi Odeere argued that retaining the office of petroleum minister for himself since he composed his cabinet in August 2023 has not boosted the country’s daily oil production in any way.
They maintained that top oil-producing countries like the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and others don’t have their presidents as petroleum ministers.
Yusuf and Odeere spoke on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Friday, October 25.
Yusuf, who is also a former Managing Director of NAHCO Free Trade Zone, said:
“I believe that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should not distract himself with the petroleum portfolio.“The four biggest oil-producing countries in the world, their presidents don’t have business being ministers of petroleum.”Yusuf asked Tinubu to “move away from the shadow and the cobweb of the oil and gas. The President should remove his hands from petroleum and give it to a focal person and hold such to account.”He urged the president to reduce the size of his cabinet, saying that having two ministers manage a ministry hasn’t amounted to productivity and performance over the years.
Femi Odeere questions Tinubu over appointment a petrol minister
On his part, Odeere, also an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, agreed with Yusuf that Tinubu should break the culture of Nigerian presidents who appointed themselves as petroleum ministers.
“This speaks to the ineffectiveness of the system we are operating. Why do we have ministers for other portfolios and all of a sudden, we say oil cannot be managed by somebody else except the president?“It is the tradition that Obasanjo started and for some reason, subsequent presidents followed it. Maybe there is something that I don’t know that is making them appropriate the petroleum portfolio in their care.”They made this assertion on Friday, days after President Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet, sacked five five ministers, reassignment 10 others and made seven fresh appointments.
Watch their interview below:
Read more about Tinubu's cabinet reshuffle here:
- Primate Ayodele spots Tinubu’s mistake in cabinet shake-up: “He sacked the wrong ministers”
- Power minister hails Tinubu for cabinet reshuffle
- Ministers who survived Tinubu’s cabinet shake-up
Tinubu urged to reverse scrapping of Niger Delta ministry
In another development, Legit.ng reported that former All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Comrade Timi Frank, has reacted to the scrapping of the Ministry of Niger Delta.
Frank said the decision to scrap the ministry by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “hasty and biased.”
He argued that the Niger Delta region's resources are being continuously exploited to service other regions.
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Source: Legit.ng