From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Former Minister of Petroleum, Prof Tam David-West, has said he can fix the nagging fuel scarcity across the country if given the responsibility.
David-West said the issue of fuel scarcity is beyond the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru. According to him, the problem is a corporate and multifaceted one.
The professor of virology had, at the inception of the current administration, told Daily Sun in its May 8, 2015 edition that he would not reject the offer of a ministerial appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.
West also said in the publication that age had nothing to do with capability and insisted that what matters is the ability to deliver on ones duties.
“Let the appointment be made first. I will not turn down anything Buhari gives me because I know he can turn Nigeria around,” David-West told Daily Sun.
On the ongoing fuel crisis, David-West said he believes the president still has confidence in his ability to assemble a team to do the job.
“If he has confidence in me, he will. I know he still has confidence in me. It can be fixed. We can fix it with good leadership. I cannot do it alone, but I know that a team can be assembled to do the job. Whether I am the head or tail, it will be done,” David-West said.
Speaking earlier, David-West said he was very pained as a result of the fuel hardship. He said no excuse would suffice for the present pain Nigerians are undergoing.
“It is terrible. People are suffering. And the people who can even afford to buy the product still beg to it at more than N200 per litre; can you imagine that in Nigeria? I am very pained about it,” David-West said.
While stressing that the fuel scarcity should not have been allowed to happen, David-West added that, “it should not happen at all.”
Although he said he was not disappointed over the way and manner government has handled the fuel crisis, he, however, blamed the crisis on “bad management and self interest.”
“This is not the fault of the General Managing Director (GMD). It is a corporate thing. The GMD is a good person. It is a corporate problem. They have to get the place right. This is not the fault of the GMD. It is a multifaceted problem. I can pinpoint what is happening,” David-West declared.