Falae Reacts To Sanusi Comment That President Does Not Have To Be Minister Of Petroleum

Falae Reacts To Sanusi Comment That President Does Not Have To Be Minister Of Petroleum

Chief Olu Falae, an elder statesman and former Minister of Finance, has asserted that the President of Nigeria does not necessarily need to serve as the Minister of Petroleum.

He emphasized the importance of appointing a dedicated minister to oversee the petroleum ministry. Falae’s stance aligns with the views expressed by former central bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who argued that having a separate minister for petroleum would ensure accountability when challenges arise.

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While acknowledging that former President Muhammadu Buhari and incumbent Bola Tinubu both held the position of Minister of Petroleum during their respective tenures, Falae contends that the petroleum ministry should ideally be headed by a distinct minister rather than the president.

“I believe that there ought to be a minister for every important subject in government including petroleum. But I know that petroleum is so important to the finances of government that no president has been able to take his hands off petroleum completely,” he said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today. 

“Not Babangida because we had Minister for Petroleum, not Obasanjo because we had Buhari as Petroleum Minister, no President has been able to take his hands off petroleum because it is so important.

“But conceptually, it is necessary and important to have a man of integrity called a minister to manage the petroleum industry in my view on behalf of the president and Nigeria so that he can be held accountable.

“I think it is good for us to have a petroleum minister. All ministers report to the president but the president does not have to be the petroleum minister,” Falae said.

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