The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has condemned the appointment of a Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from the oil-rich Niger Delta area.
During Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, described on Thursday, IPAC National Chairman, Alhaji Yabagi Sani descrivbed the appointment as a “wrong signal”.
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri from Bayelsa State was announced on Wednesday as the Minister of State-designate for Petroleum Resources, while Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom State) is the Minister of State-designate for Gas Resources; both in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Sani said that limiting the appointment to a particular state would bring a sense of entitlement amongst the people of the Niger Delta.
“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.
“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 (FCT) to an indigene of North Central? – if you must be sensational about such a very important ministry.
“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”.
For the first time since the commencement of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the FCT Minister is appointed from the South as former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike is to fill that position.
Sani suggested that the petroleum sector should be looked into from a professional point of view and a national interest point of view.
He said that the responsibilities of the President are weighty and critical for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, noting 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 to be chased out as quickly as we can”, he said.
