Trade Union Congress Has Told President Buhari to Step Down As Petroleum Minister

President of the Trade union Congress (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Bala kaigama, told the President on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, that the President Buhari cannot combine the demand of the Presidency with that of Minister of Petroleum Resources. This is due to the strategic nature of the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Muhammadu Buhari has been told to drop the office and concentrate on issues of the presidency.

This is even so as the President has failed to proffer a lasting solution to the lingering fuel crisis in the nation for a month running. Also, Nigerians, rather than firing Buhari over the fuel crisis being the minister of Petroleum, all eyes have been on Ibe Kachikwu, the junior minister in the Ministry of Petroleum. TUC said combining the two strategic offices would be too enormous for the President.The Union made the observation during a “Save Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Round Table Conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

The union said it would be rewarding to the nation if President Buhari appoints an individual with high experience in the oil and gas sector to take over the ministry and concentrate on issues affecting the presidency. Kaigama said, “There is 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. The union also said while Ibe Kachikwu serves as the junior minister in the ministry, an experienced person should also be appointed to held the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as group managing director.