A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has called for the appointment of a Minister for Petroleum Resources, saying the position should not be occupied by President Bola Tinubu.

It would be recalled that Tinubu, in August 2023, about three months after his inauguration, split the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the appointment of Ekperipe Ekpo as the Minister of State, Gas Resources; and Heineken Lokpobiri as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

The president, like his predecessor, ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, kept the position of the Minister of Petroleum Resources to himself.

However, Sanusi, while speaking at the Bank Directors Summit organised by the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday, December 7, 2023, said occupying the position by the president will make it difficult for Nigerians to hold the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) accountable.

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The former Emir of Kano equally called for a proper audit of the NNPCL, describing the company as the “most opaque oil company in the world”.

Sanusi said: “By the way, let me advise that the idea of the president becoming a petroleum minister is not a good idea. The last president was the minister of petroleum for eight years.

“When I was governor of the central bank we had a minister of petroleum so when I talk about the NNPCL, I could attack Diezani Madueke. Now, nobody can talk about petroleum because for eight years if you talk, you are attacking the president.

“We need that buffer; somebody has to be there, so a minister has to be there who is held accountable by Nigerians.”

The Star