Former Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has broken his long silence after exiting office as a minister in May 2019, saying he reached out to the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari while he was in the hospital.

“Whilst on this COVID-19 pandemic, nothing brought home more frighteningly the loss that Nigeria has suffered and may continue to suffer to this plague, than the death of Abba,” he said.

The former minister said he “reached out to him often while he was in hospital, and did not see the end coming.”

He sent his condolences “to his lovely wife and children whom I have had many opportunities to meet previously. May God give the family the courage to bear the loss and may Abba’s soul rest in peace.”

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Kachikwu, who also served as OPEC president in December 2015, said he just underwent prostate surgery, which has also been one of the reasons he had been out of the public eye.

Kachikwu, who served as NNPC GMD and minister in the oil sector, said some bullish steps needed to be taken in the wake of COVID-19 or the sector may collapse in Nigeria.

“There is a lot to worry about, and a lot of urgency needs to be given to the tasks needed to save this sector. If you followed me in my twilight years in office, you will remember my famous ‘URGENCY OF NOW’ clarion call and the speed with which I raced to seek solutions for this sector as though time was running out!

“Time is truly running out. I know that those at the helm of affairs in this sector, both public and private, are doing a lot to stabilise it.

“Nigeria needs to go back to the drawing board to figure out the right approach to this sector. It cannot be business as usual anymore and some of the new bold decisions being taken reflect this. However, the time has come to be Bullish, or the sector will collapse.

“I will stop here… for now… and until next time, I will say again a big ‘Thank You’ to all Nigerians.”

He also said he wrote six books while in office as minister between 2015 and 2019.

Vanguard