Politics: TUC to Buhari,Resign as Petroleum Minister

President Buhari has been asked to resign
from the position of the minister of
petroleum and mineral resources.
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called
on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign
from the position of the minister of
petroleum and mineral resources.
According to the congress, the office is too
critical to Nigeria’s economy, therefore, it
should not be combined with the office of
the president and commander-in-chief.
The Nation reports that Bobboi Bala
Kaigama, the president of the TUC, made
the call at the “Save Nigeria Oil and Gas
Industry Round Table Conference” held on
Tuesday, April 19, in Abuja.
The TUC boss noted that there was cogent
need for appointment of a substantive
minister of petroleum and mineral resources.
“The ideal candidate for this should be
someone who has the necessary knowledge,
experience and competence, and who would
directly oversee the affairs of the ministry and
report regularly to the president.
“That position is too critically important to the
economy to be subsumed as one of the many
offices or portfolios of the president and
commander-in-chief. Of course the position of
Minister of State for Petroleum and Mineral
Resources should continue to exist as a junior
minister in the ministry. A separate group
managing director of Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should also be
appointed to directly supervise the affairs of
the NNPC,” he said.
According to Kaigama, all the appointees
must have bold, incorruptible and sound
principles. He added that the cabals in the
oil sector emerged due to corruption in the
corporation.
“It is high time we halt the ugly trend whereby
members of the cabal are paid billions of naira
for ‘fuel imports’ that never reach our shores,”
he stressed.
Meanwhile, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the
president of Nigeria Labour Congress, noted
that Nigeria was the worst case scenario in
the management of oil and gas wealth in the
world.
He said that the main problem in the oil and
gas industry is not lack of law but
adherence to the laws.
Wabba advised Nigerians to oppose anyone
who flout the law. He recalled that two
weeks ago he refused to pay N200 per liter
for the petrol he bought in a station in
Kaduna state because the pump price was
N86 per liter.
A few weeks ago, youths under the auspices
of Northern Youth Council of Nigeria also
demanded the immediate resignation of
Buhari as petroleum minister.
The group advised the president to hire a
competent hand to handle the ministry and
appoint a new managing director for NNPC
to improve effectiveness and productivity in
the ministry and agency.