From Khabab abdulfatah, Abeokuta
The interview discourse on governance and nation-building, ‘Boiling Point Arena’ promises to be a brainstorming session on Sunday, Sept. 8 as prominent experts prepare to discuss development issues on how to rescue Nigeria from collapse.
TheNewsZenith reports that this month’s edition of Boiling Point coincides with this week’s hike in petrol pump prices nationwide.
The hike has sparked crisis and uncertainties in the country.
Ahead of the monthly discussion programme, a petroleum industry expert, Prof. Wunmi Iredare says President Bola Tinubu should immediately relinquish his hold on the Ministry of Petroleum.
Iredare, the professor Emeritus in Petroleum Economics and Policy Research said Tinubu should urgently appoint a substantive Minister of Petroleum.
The don, at the Centre For Energy Studies, Louisiana is also a one-time President of the United States Association for Energy Economics.
He has about 40 years of practice experience in the oil and gas sector.
When asked what to expect at the upcoming discourse on the monthly current affairs programme, Iredare lamented that there is an apparent lack of transparency in the nation’s petroleum sector.
“Successive Nigerian Governments have mismanaged our God-given natural endowment.
“The first thing to do is to ask President Tinubu to surrender his ministerial portfolio as the Minister overseeing the Petroleum Ministry.
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“Under his office, Tinubu should be too busy to correctly superintend over that vital sector.
“What we have now are surrogates doing trial and error in the petroleum sector. It is absurd.
“He should relinquish that role to allow transparency in the industry and in particular for effectiveness,” Iredare said.
The don advised the Federal Government to take its hands off the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited(NNPCL).
“They should stop spending money outside the budgetary system. Let them govern by the principles of the Petroleum Industry Act.
“The government should stop looking at the NNPCL as its cash cow. You cannot disobey the principles of the economy and think it will not come after you.
“Things certainly can be done better if we must come out of this quagmire.”
TheNewsZenith reports that both Prof. Iledare and Dr Oluwatoyin Jokosenumi, a former Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria, will mount the podium as discussants at the interactive interview discourse on Sunday night.
The topic of discourse is: “Nigeria in Socio-Political and Economic Quagmire: What Are The Rescue Options?”
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