Read why Buhari will not quit as petroleum minister

 
A veteran journalist and Member of Buhari Media Support Group (BMSG), Tunde Thompson, has said that the failure of Nigerians to honestly run the petroleum sector made President Muhammadu Buhari to assume the position of the Petroleum Minister.
Speaking in an interview, Thompson, who stressed that he does not speak for the Federal Government or is he an official spokesperson of the President, maintained that Buhari decided to step into the shoes of the oil minister to check
selfishness, greed, lack of discipline and unwillingness to obey set rules by the stakeholders in the petroleum sector.
Thompson was responding to questions on the demand by a section of Nigerians for President Buhari to relinquish the position of oil minister in line with the provisions of Section 138 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The section provided that the President, as the nation’s chief executive cannot occupy another executive position while in office.
Those who are asking Buhari to relinquish the position hinge this on the act that he is concentration too much effort on the oil sector to the detriment of other sectors, even as the position makes him to travel out of the country very often.
They also stressed that at about 70 years, adding the job of the oil minister to his role as President and Commander-in-Chief is too stressful and may be detrimental to his health even as he demeans his position by constantly sitting with oil ministers during international conferences on oil and gas as well as during a meeting of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to the critics, the President should allow the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, to continue as a full minister or appoint another technocrat to the position, while he with his long experience in the oil sector, monitors them well to ensure that they do their job well.
Responding to the critics, Thompson, in what he termed “My personal opinion” said: “I don’t claim to qualify to be classified to speak for or as government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so, no comments in that regard.
“However, the problem is more about selfishness, greed, lack of discipline and unwillingness to obey the set rules, than about who is the Premier Oil Minister. The failures are ideological, orientational, dispositional and ethical.”
He asked: “Why do people fail to market, or choose to hoard products that State parastatals provide at normal or even lower prices?
“When will love for others and respect for public order replace these unethical races for boundless wealth, witnessed almost every last quarter of the year, and in the primitive acquisition of material possessions?
“Already, people are waiting for a restoration of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI)?
“Can’t we do what’s good and humane for a change, instead of waiting to be reminded?
“Therefore, whether as Oil Minister or not, PMB remains part of the solution to those problems, and relevant. No serious president sits still…, and dynamism is the word!”