Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has condemned the practice of the President serving as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Agbakoba, while analysing the issues plaguing Nigeria’s oil sector in an interview with Arise TV, called for a repeal of the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA).
He stated that President Bola Tinubu should not be the petroleum minister because he lacks the time to oversee the affairs of both offices.
Agbakoba criticised the misconception that commercialisation and privatisation automatically lead to efficiency, citing China and Saudi Arabia, which run state capitalism.
He said, “My point is Mr. President should not be the minister of petroleum resources because he doesn’t have the time. That thing about the President becoming the minister of petroleum resources has to stop.
“If the PIA is such a fantastic bill, why then are we having the problem of fuel scarcity that I first experienced in 1972? Why is it continuing? There was a misconception that commercialisation necessarily means efficiency. It doesn’t. China does not commercialise anything. It runs state capitalism. Saudi Arabia and Aramco, also runs state capitalism. So, I personally retract what I felt initially that commercialisation and privatisation are vehicles of development. They are not, as long as Nigeria is concerned.”
Speaking further, the former President of NBA challenged the effectiveness of privatisation in Nigeria, arguing that it has not led to the development or poverty alleviation but has instead been channelled to enrich certain individuals’ pockets.
He added, “I challenge anybody to show me one successful privatised entity since this started in 2000. What has happened is that the state enterprises have been privatised into the private pockets of individuals. Nothing has come to us as specified in section 14 and we remain very poor. Poverty is everywhere to the point where we must be careful about food riot” he said, urging a re-evaluation of Nigeria’s privatisation strategy.”