Yabagi Sani, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for assigning a Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from the oil-rich Niger Delta area, insisting it is a ‘wrong signal.’
Sani spoke while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Thursday.
He disclosed that limiting the appointment to a specific state would trigger a sense of entitlement among the Niger Delta people.
Recall that Tinubu on Wednesday released portfolios for 45 ministerial designates.
He appointed Heineken Lokpobiri, who is from Bayelsa, as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources but was silent on the portfolio of the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
“Unfortunately, this sector [Niger Delta] has been made to look as if people that should be appointed to that ministry should come from Niger Delta,” Sani said.
It is a wrong signal because, when you now give people a sense of entitlement, their efficiency becomes something that is not given due attention to.
“I think we must change that scenario, but if he must do that not because I’m from the North Central, why don’t you give the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to an indigene of North Central? – if you must be sensational about such a very important ministry.”