It is believed that President Muhammadu Buhari may most likely assume
responsibility as the petroleum minister in the new cabinet.
According to a report by Reuters, close associates of the President
revealed that he may take up the portfolio of the oil ministry.
Buhari has experience in managing the oil sector, having been head of
the Petroleum Trust Fund under an ex-military ruler, the late Gen. Sani
Abacha, in the 1990s and oil minister in the 1970s under Olusegun
Obasanjo.
A long-standing associate of Buhari, who spoke on condition of
anonymity said Nigeria’s oil sector was so dirty that nobody’s hands
were clean enough to do the “surgical changes” needed.
Another political associate was also quoted by Reuters as saying, “He
will do it. It would be stupid to give that position to anyone else.”
Similarly, an adviser in the All Progressives Congress party was
quoted as saying: “It’s going to be a lean government; I doubt he’ll
have 42 ministers like Jonathan but he must have at least 36 (for the
number of states) as prescribed by the constitution, though it does not
specify whether they have to be senior or junior.”