UPU OIL AND GAS TECHNICAL COMMITTEE, CALLS ON PRESIDENT TINUBU TO APPOINT A TECHNOCRAT AS NEXT PETROLEUM MINISTER.
We wish to begin by saying congratulations to His Excellency, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for his success in the just concluded presidential election. We wish him well and pray that God Almighty guide him and grant him the wisdom to deliver to Nigerians the much needed and desired leadership.
However, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu makes preparation to appoint new ministers that will constitute his yet to be assembled federal executive council, we as members of the Oil and Gas Technical Committee of the Urhobo apex socio-cultural organization-the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, wishes to implore President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider appointing a technocrat to man the petroleum ministry.
Our call at this time has become pertinent as a result of the regular inability and failure of those appointed to lead the country’s petroleum ministry in the past, to transform the all-important ministry for the much desired change , for effective service delivery to the Nigerian people; a situation that is today responsible for the country’s non-functional four state-owned refineries; perennial scarcity of petroleum products in the country, lack of transparency in the petroleum sector, corruption, crude oil theft, that has resulted in our country losing about 1 million barrels of crude oil daily to corporate oil thieves.
There is no doubt that the country’s petroleum sector is in dire need of holistic reforms that would not only enhance transparency and accountability in the administration of the country’s petroleum resources, but also, bring about reforms that will holistically restructure and revamp the country’s petroleum sector for effective and smoother operations, ease of doing business, encouragement of local content, and as well as for greater productivity and viability in line with international best practices.
It is consequent upon the above that we are calling on Mr. President to appoint someone with the requisite skill, exposure and vast experience and knowledge of the oil and gas industry–both locally and internationally to head the federal ministry of petroleum.
Meanwhile, we also wish to appeal to Mr. President, that, it will not be out of place for an Urhobo to be considered for the position of the next Minister of Petroleum of the country, as the Urhobo nation boasts of aggregation of professionals with vast experience in the oil and gas industry.
We wish to draw the attention of Mr. President to the fact that, in spite of being a major contributor to the country’s vast oil wealth with several OMLs, and also playing host to the country’s largest gas reserve, the Utorogun gas plant, an Urhobo has never been appointed a petroleum minister in the country, a situation we the Urhobo people deem an act of injustice to the Urhobo nation, this is in spite of persons from non oil producing region and ethnic nationality having been appointed as Petroleum Ministers in the past.
Once again, I wish to reiterate that we members of the UPU Oil and Gas Technical Committee, wish Mr. President and his administration well in leading our great nation, and also enjoin him to give due considerations to our suggestion and requests.
Signed:
Comr. Lucky Ighoyota
Chairman, UPU-Oil and Gas Technical Committee
