[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer minister of Petroleum Prof Tam David -West has said that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, is a minister without portfolio.
‘What is the duty of a minister of state?’ Buhari should be the chairman of the NNPC board and not Kachikwu, who is a minister without a portfolio in reality. It would be better if we scrapped the ‘minister of state’ which is superfluous and redundant, said David West in an interview with The Punch.
“When you say that a minister of state is the boss of the GMD of NNPC, it is wrong. That cannot be. People are making those claims because of misconception. The minister of state in the First Republic was a minister without a portfolio. He cannot be a boss of the GMD of an oil industry, who is the livewire of that sector.”
“Each time I read the newspapers about this issue, I am upset, said David West who was minister of petroleum when President Muhammadu Buhari was head of state in 1983.
“When I read Kachikwu’s letter, I was flabbergasted. But I was relieved when the NNPC replied that nothing like that happened.
“There is a danger in having Kachikwu loyalists and Baru loyalists in the same sector. It is very dangerous for the nation, he said.
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