The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, has yet to implement President Bola Tinubu’s directive that Nicholas Agbo-Ella be allowed to represent Nigeria as OPEC Governor, in what appears to some people a disobedience of President Bola Tinubu’s order.
In a directive issued on 6 May, Mr Tinubu asked Mr Lokpobiri, whom he appointed in August 2023, to submit the name of Mr Agbo-Ella, the current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as the representative of Nigeria in OPEC.
Mr Agbo-Ella replaced Gabriel Aduda as the Permanent Secretary for the Petroleum Ministry after the latter was redeployed to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in February.
Top officials in the ministry have told this newspaper that Mr Aduda, a brother to former FCT Senator Philip Aduda, has continued to attend functions as OPEC governor, a move sources said was backed by Mr Lokpobiri.
President Tinubu emphasised in his memo to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and copied to Mr Lokpobiri that Mr Lokpobiri should “take immediate steps to notify OPEC of the change of Permanent Secretary and replace Ambassador Gabriel T. Aduda’s name with Ambassador Nicholas Agbo-Ella as the Governor nominated by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, being the current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum.”
