Ike Amos
14 October 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Friday, berated the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, and asked him to tender a public apology to Nigerians for his false accusation against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru.
IPMAN, in a statement in Abuja, signed by its National Secretary, Mr. Danladi Pasali, described as a welcome development, reports that Kachikwu and Baru had both agreed that an autonomous NNPC and other regulators like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
It said that in the report, the minister was quoted to have said at the just concluded Nigeria Economic Summit 2017 in Abuja that he is currently ‘whittling down the powers of the minister’s office in the on-going reforms of the industry so that these institutions could work and work well, the reality is that no one will work as a minister forever, you are going to hand over that portfolio’.
IPMAN said it regarded this comment by Kachikwu as very apt and capable of bringing confidence in the oil and gas sector, adding no patriotic Nigerian or stakeholder in the oil and gas industry would not be happy with such statement, especially at this time when tension is brewing in the industry.
He said, “Henceforth, IPMAN and other Nigerians are going to hold the minister to his words. We expects the minister to start by showing an example by publicly apologizing over his leaked letter which nearly brought down the integrity of the GMD NNPC, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the petroleum sector.
“His apology is necessary in order to clear the minds of much uninformed and some mischievous elements who are still insisting on the wrong impression of massive corruption by the Maikanti Baru led administration as alleged in his letter to the President.”
“The minister’s statement that the autonomy of the oil and gas agencies “is very, very key with less of political interface” is a great confession that his allegation of Dr Baru’s insubordination is wrong and unwarranted.
“Our memories are still fresh of the massive corruption and mismanagement that nearly destroy the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry under the supervision of the former minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison – Madueke due to her enormous power.
“We, therefore, called on the minister and the GMD to shield their swords and work together for the benefits of the oil and gas industry.”