Mr. Tinubu requested on May 6th, in a directive, that Mr. Lokpobiri—whom he had appointed in August 2023—submit the name of Mr. Agbo-Ella, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to serve as Nigeria’s OPEC representative.
After Gabriel Aduda was transferred to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in February, Mr. Agbo-Ella took over as Permanent Secretary for the Petroleum Ministry.
The brother of former FCT Senator Philip Aduda, Mr. Aduda has continued to attend events as an OPEC governor, a decision that sources claim was supported by Mr. Lokpobiri, top ministry officials told this newspaper.
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,” President Tinubu emphasized in his memo to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), which was copied to Mr. Lokpobiri.
According to reports, the president instructed the minister to make sure that the “replacement is confirmed by the conference scheduled for 1 June 2024” in the memo.
But as of 1 June, at least, an official at the petroleum ministry stated that Mr. Lokpobiri does not seem to have submitted Mr. Agbo-Ella’s name to the OPEC Board of Governors, which some administration insiders saw as a disobedience of a legitimate presidential instruction.
The reason behind Mr. Lokpobiri’s move could not be immediately confirmed by the newspaper. Furthermore, it’s unclear why Mr. Aduda, whose current position is with the Ministry of Women Affairs, kept up his OPEC governorship.
In order to find out what steps the SGF has taken to guarantee that the president’s order is followed, The SGF’s Office spokesperson, Segun Imohiosen, initially requested some time to elucidate the minister’s position. After that, he stopped answering calls and texts that were directed at him by premium times.
According to this medium’s checks, Mr. Aduda is still identified on the OPEC website as the Governor of Nigeria. On his X account, he continues to refer to himself as the Nigerian governor of OPEC.
