Nigeria’s Minister of
State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu has refuted reports
carried by some online news portal days back that he is warming up to contest
the Delta State governorship seat in 2019.
The minister, while
speaking with newsmen in Abuja, described the reports as “fictitious, baseless
and mischievous,” adding that not only do they not reflect his current thinking
as a minister in one of the sensitive ministries in Nigeria but that they also
do great disservice to the current efforts to fix the challenges in Nigeria’s
petroleum sector.
Kachikwu, who was
visibly angry about the reports, while answering questions from newsmen, said
that the current administration is taking definite steps to ensure that the
challenges which resulted in long queues at the fuel stations become history.
He said the bandying
of spurious reports about a concocted ambition at this time is a serious
disservice to the effort being made by the government, especially the one the
nation can do without at the moment.
According to him, “The enormity of the
problems the current administration met on ground in the petroleum sector is
one that requires a great deal of focus and commitment to tackle and by God’s
grace, we will get there.
“So
we can do without some of these distractions that blow hot air and heat up the
polity without addressing the immediate needs of the citizenry.
“At
the moment we need to support Mr. President in his drive to reform the
petroleum sector, so putting unnecessary pressure on those directly working
with him will not only distract but could delay the process as, given the
enormity of the problems, all hands must be on deck to achieve the kind of
reform needed in the sector.”
He
called on well meaning Nigerians to support the federal government in its
efforts to reform the petroleum sector in the country, urging them to desist
from self serving claims that are insensitive to the current challenges and are
aimed more at mischief making than achieving a common good.
The
minister said as far as he is concerned, the so called ambition exists only in
the figment of the imagination of those he described as “political jobbers” who
he said are out to distract him from his current responsibilities as delegated
to him by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The
Minister insisted that he is fully committed to his duty of supervising the
Buhari administration’s ongoing reforms at the petroleum sector and helping the
Nigerian President achieve his campaign promises to people.
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