The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has stated that President Tinubu never called himself the Minister of Petroleum, attributing the designation to media misrepresentation.
Onanuga said this in an interview with Channels TV on Sunday in Abuja while speaking on the current state of affairs.
The president’s spokesperson explained that two ministers currently oversee the oil and gas sector, and the president sees no need to label himself a minister.
Accordingly, Onanuga noted that the president supervises all his ministers, and by extension, all ministries are under his authority.
“I think I’ve answered this question somewhere. The President has never called himself the minister of petroleum. You people in the media give him that title. We have two ministers there already. As far as President Tinubu is concerned, there are all ministers.
“The president supervises all his ministers. He is in charge of everything. He’s in charge of all ministries under him,” Onanuga said.
Tinubu focusing on the Gas Sector
- In addition, Onanuga stated that President Tinubu is prioritizing the gas sector, which had been neglected by previous administrations.
- The president’s spokesperson referenced former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s expression of regret for not focusing more on the gas sector during his tenure.
- According to Onanuga, since Nigeria possesses more gas than oil, the president is correcting this oversight by giving the gas sector the attention it deserves.
“We have two ministers, and one of them focuses on gas. That is an area that this government found that in the past Nigeria neglected the gas sector.
“Whereas Nigeria is more of a gas country than an oil country. President Tinubu is focusing on gas. Recently, President Obasanjo said he made a mistake during his time by not focusing on gas.
“And now, president Tinubu is rectifying that by making sure that we are focusing now on gas,“ Onanuga said.
What you should know
The practice of the president assuming the role of Minister of Petroleum began in 2015 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, who appointed himself as the head of the ministry.
- This marked a shift from the traditional approach, where a president would appoint a dedicated minister to oversee the petroleum sector and manage its activities within the economy.
- Upon assuming office, President Tinubu appointed two junior ministers for oil and gas, Heineken Lokpobiri and Ekperikpe Ekpo.
However, he did not appoint a primary minister for the sector, leading to speculation that he, like his predecessor, had retained the role for himself.
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