Nigeria: Acting president sacks head of state-run oil company, swears in Cabinet

Nigeria: Acting president swears in Cabinet

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s acting president sacked the head of the nation’s oil company Tuesday, the same day he swore in a Cabinet that put a former oil company employee in charge of the country’s petroleum ministry and an investment banker at the helm of its finances.

The moves by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan seemed to cement his power in Africa’s most populous nation, despite ill President Umaru Yar’Adua’s recent return to the country. Jonathan also said he directly would manage the nation’s failing power ministry, a move that could turn around years of struggles to produce power for Nigeria’s 150 million people.

Jonathan told the 38 new Cabinet members that they would sign public agreements on what he expected from their ministries. The ministers will be responsible for informing the nation on how they reach those goals, a rare show of accountability in a nation long considered one of the most corrupt in the world.

“I will hate to disappoint you but I will hate even more to disappoint the nation,” Jonathan said.

He also told the new ministers he expected efficiency and results.

“No minister will be allowed to go on a mission of endless search for solutions,” Jonathan said. “You must hit the ground running. Time is of fundamental essence and no distraction in our mission will be tolerated.”

After swearing in the Cabinet, a spokesman for Jonathan issued a statement saying the acting president had removed Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, who led the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. The statement said Shehu Ladan would replace Barkindo and gave no reason for his firing.

The national petroleum company shares money earned from oil exploration by major corporations that operate in Nigeria, including Chevron Corp., ExxonMobil Corp. and Shell. That money funds the majority of Nigeria’s national government — and remains a target for graft. The company also handles gasoline distribution throughout the country, a network that often fails and causes hours-long gas lines in a nation that’s the No. 3 supplier of crude oil to the U.S.

Jonathan’s spokesman also said the acting president will unveil a new strategy for providing electricity. The national grid constantly fails, leaving customers without power for hours at a time.

Jonathan’s new Cabinet also demonstrate that the former state governor wants to make his mark. Among the members is Diezani Allison-Madueke, who will serve as head of the petroleum ministry.

Allison-Madueke previously worked for the Shell Petroleum Development Company, which Shell runs as a subsidiary with the Nigerian government. Shell first struck oil in Nigeria 50 years ago and remains the main force for exploration in the country, though attacks by militants upset by environmental damage and poor living conditions in the country’s Niger Delta have cut into the oil major’s production since 2006.

Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, a senior executive with Goldman Sachs, will take over as Nigeria’s finance minister. Jonathan also restored Dora Akunyili as information minister. She circulated a memo to the Cabinet in February calling on it to grant then-Vice President Jonathan powers to act on behalf of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Yar’Adua, 58, hasn’t been seen publicly since leaving in November for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Long troubled by poor health and kidney ailments, Yar’Adua was hospitalized over what his doctor described as an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.

Yar’Adua left the country without formally placing Jonathan, then the vice president, in charge, sparking a constitutional crisis that lasted several months. The National Assembly empowered Jonathan to become acting president Feb. 9. A military convoy and an ambulance apparently swept Yar’Adua back into the presidential palace Feb. 24, though he has not been seen publicly since his return and his Christian vice president remains in control of the nation.

Though dissolving the Cabinet Yar’Adua created, Jonathan kept some of the same members in his reconstituted Cabinet. He also put a nephew of Yar’Adua as the No. 2 minister at the country’s defense ministry.

Jonathan has a short time to address the nation’s growing insecurity, religious problems and corrupt elections. The next presidential election will come in January or April 2011 and the ruling People’s Democratic Party has said it won’t back Jonathan as a presidential candidate. Yar’Adua also could send a letter to the National Assembly assuming presidential powers — though Christian leaders who met with him Monday said he remains physically weak, leading some to believe he may not be able to handle governing the nation.

Many have applauded Jonathan’s moves after the lull created by Yar’Adua’s absence. However, such direct oversight has led to problems in the past. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo took direct control of the oil ministry during his eight years in power. However, government projects that received oil money never materialized.