Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in his bid to clear corruption in the Oil sector will  leave the Petroleum Ministry vacant and under his close supervision, an official said.

Femi Adesina, the spokesperson of ‘Buhari administration’ said the ‘strict president’ will not nominate a candidate  for the post of petroleum Minister in Africa’s biggest oil producer.

“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 government of Nigeria depends on oil and gas industry for a larger part of its revenues but according to analysists, there has been little oversight on how the proceeds from the sector are handled.

The central bank governor under outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan Lamido Sanusi was sacked  after he declared that $20 billion in oil revenues were missing between 2012 and 2013.

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 select a minister from each of Nigeria’s 36 states. Buhari sent a second list of cabinet nominees to the upper house, Senate President Bukola Saraki said in a post on his Twitter account on Monday, contradicting Adesina who earlier said the next batch of ministerial picks wouldn’t be handed over until the first had been screened.

Credit: Bloomberg