Fuel Scarcity: Ezekwesili ‘attacks’ Buhari over New Year message

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari over his New Year message.

NationReformer.com had reported that President Buhari in his New Year message on Monday said he was determined to get to the root of the fuel scarcity in the country and prevent those behind it from inflicting hardship on Nigerians.

He also accused some citizens of choosing the festive period to inflict severe hardship on Nigerians by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity.

Ezekwesili, on Tuesday, while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, said the President should not lament about oil marketers but rather own up to the failure of the Petroleum sector.

She said President Buhari as the head of the Petroleum sector should give room for discussion about reviewing the sector which according to her is no longer an economic sector but a sector replete with political control.

“I come from the premise that the President shouldn’t be lamenting about oil marketers. What is a failure of the governance of the petroleum sector that creates the basis for any conversation about anyone seeking to engage in economic activities in that sector supposedly manipulating.

“What we need in the petroleum sector (which is by the way led by the President) is a conversation on whether the structure of that sector is what we should have. Is that sector an economic sector in the way that it operates? I think that is a sector that is now replete with a lot of political control and that subverting the economics of that sector,” she said.

Ezekwesili said further that the seat of presidency will be made less attractive if a complete overhaul is carried out in the Petroleum sector saying, “I believe that if we do a full deregulation and full liberation, I am telling you the presidency will not be that attractive anymore.”