By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—THE Acting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has been urged to be careful with international oil companies as lobbying to ensure that one of their loyalists was appointed Minister of Petroleum.

In a statement signed by the Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, a human rights group, Reverend David Ugolor, the group said the acting president should allow  competence and credibility guide  his choice  and not allow anybody or institutions  to blackmail him to take decisions that will signal to Nigerians  that he was submitting to the dictates of the IOCs whose activities around  the Petroleum Industry Bill have not been very encouraging.

“You will recall that when the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, released  its  1999, 2004 and 2005 audit  report,  it was very clear that the Petroleum Ministry required urgent reform and transformation in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC,” it stated.

ANEEJ said the “strategic role of the Ministry  in the economy  made  it more even important for Acting President Jonathan to  consider  the choice  of any of the nominees with petroleum and NNPC background.