Tokunbo Adedoja
1 December 2008
Lagos — The search for a credible Nigerian to lead the newly created Ministry of Niger Delta may have zeroed in on Mr. Gamaliel Offoritsenere Onosode, a renowned technocrat and former presidential aspirant on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
It has also emerged that despite widespread media reports, former Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr. Bode Agusto, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, were not nominated for ministerial positions, much less being screened by the State Security Service (SSS).
THISDAY was informed last night that Onosode, an ethnic Urhobo from Delta State, is being given "serious consideration" by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to head the new ministry as Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda includes the critical issue of peace and security in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's oil-producing region.
Although Onosode's likely appointment is based strictly on merit, it could also take care of regional ethnic balancing, with another big group, Ijaw, having produced the current Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Already, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, former Minister of Petroleum Resources and currently Honorary Adviser to the President on Energy, has been pencilled down to head the restructured Ministry of Energy.
THISDAY learnt that Presidency had been searching for a credible person to head the ministry and once considered an "outsider" (a non-Niger Delta person) for the position, but indications are that Yar'Adua may have finally settled for Onosode.
Ekaette's name had been touted all along but as it has turned out, he was not even on the list of nominees sent for screening by the SSS, sources told THISDAY yesterday.
It had been suggested that the failure of the SSS to screen him and pass him fit had delayed his name being forwarded to the Senate for screening.
Agusto was also believed to have been nominated for a ministerial position and the supposed security clearance was said to be delaying his appointment process, but it has also turned out not be true.
Agusto, who was nominated last year but did not scale Senate screening for undisclosed reasons, is an accountant who obtained a degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos in 1977 and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1981.
Onosode was educated at the Government College, Ughelli and the University of Ibadan, where he had BA (Hons) Classics.
He was chief executive of NAL Merchant Bank of Nigeria and former adviser to former President Shehu Shagari.
He chaired both private and public sector businesses, including Dunlop Nigeria Plc (1984-2007), Cadbury Nigeria Plc (1977-93), the Presidential Commission on Parastatals (1981), Nigeria LNG Working Committee and Nigeria LNG Limited (1985-90) and the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (since 1995).
He is also the Chairman of Zain and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan and Chairman of its Governing Council.
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