“I will advise him to own the PIR, he must not behave like Diezani Alison-Madueke who pretended like she wanted the reform."
Emeritus professor of Petroleum Economics and Policy Research, Wumi Iledare, has set five goals for newly appointed Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva. Top on the list is the implementation of reforms in the oil and gas industry.
Speaking with Sahara Reporters on Wednesday, Iledare reminded the former Bayelsa State governor that Rilwan Lukman started the reform journey in 2000 as an energy adviser.
He said, “The number one priority is the Petroleum Industry Reform which was started in 2000.
“I will advise him to own the PIR, he must not behave like Diezani Alison-Madueke who pretended like she wanted the reform.
“Secondly, Silva should professionalise the ministry. The head of upstream policy must be professional, the head of downstream must be professional, the head of gas and oil field services must be professional as well.
“He must find a way to improve the reward system in other to attract competent hands to the ministry. The idea that agencies under the petroleum ministry are paid better than those in the ministry itself, is not good.”
Iledare frowned at the reality of personnel in regulatory bodies like the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency and other regulatory departments getting better pay than the ministry’s staff.
He urged the former Bayelsa State governor to go beyond the limits of the federal civil service salary structure in order to attract quality technocrats into the ministry.
The scholar also admonished Sylva to avoid meddling in the day-to-day running of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
He added, “Even though he is the chairman of the board, he must not get himself involved in the day-to-day running of the NNPC, just like Diezani before him.
“He must separate policy from regulation and from operations. He needs to allow the Department of Petroleum Resources do its job independently.”