Buhari to keep oil minister post vacant

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will leave the post of petroleum minister in Africa’s biggest oil producer vacant after signaling that he would take the position, according to his spokesman.

“He can’t be president and oil minister at the same time,” Femi Adesina said by phone on Monday from Abuja, the capital. “He will supervise the ministry, so there will be no petroleum minister. Maybe he will appoint a minister of state, which is a junior minister.”

Nigeria’s Senate will begin vetting Buhari’s cabinet nominees on Tuesday. The 72-year-old former military ruler sent a list of 21 names to lawmakers last week, without saying which portfolios the candidates would get.

The list included four former governors, the head of the state oil company, Emmanuel Kachikwu, and Kemi Adeosun, tipped by several analysts to be the finance minister.

Under the constitution Buhari must pick a minister from each of Nigeria’s 36 states. He will not submit the rest of the nominees to politicians until they have finished screening the first list, Adesina said.