Anthony Kila, a renowned political economist and Commonwealth Institute director, has urged President Bola Tinubu to resign as Minister and take further action beyond simply changing the management and board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The NNPC, the government-owned company responsible for harnessing Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves for sustainable national development, recently underwent a significant board overhaul. This saw the Chairman, Pius Akinyelure, and the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kolo Kyari, being replaced.
Commenting on the overhaul, the popular public affairs analyst and Professor of Strategy and Development noted that “changing the board is not enough and might not yield results if the NNPC does not undergo a proper rebirth built on accountability, transparency, and around a clear mandate of ensuring more refineries work in the country.”
The don also criticised the amount of information disclosed regarding the board change, describing it as scant.
According to Kila, “When changing the board of a company that belongs to all Nigerians, it would make more sense to provide full details to the public about why the President is changing the board and what we can expect from the new board. The details of this overhaul seem too scant to me.”
Speaking on a popular TV programme, Kila made a direct appeal to President Tinubu to take steps to ensure he stops acting as or being perceived as the substantive Minister for Petroleum.
“In a country of over 200 million people, it does not make sense that one person should simultaneously be President and Minister of Oil or Minister of anything. I appeal to President Tinubu to recuse himself from this role and appoint a visible, dynamic Minister to act on his behalf or give more power to the ones we currently Ministers,” noted the popular analyst.
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