Timipre Silva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has officially resumed as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources at 2.30pm on Wednesday while meeting officially for the first time with the Permanent Secretary, Folasade Yemi Esan, and other officials in the Ministry.
Silva, a former governor of Bayelsa, and the Minister representing Bayelsa at the Federal Executive Council is to work with President Muhammadu Buhari who is the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Speaking at his official resumption, Silva said, he would be having an official meeting with President Buhari to confirm his core area of concentration as the Minister of State, since he would be reporting directly to the President who is the substantive Minister.
According to Silva, “Today is not a day on speech-making at all. I will want to get familiarised with what is going on in the ministry, in a bid to ensure we position the ministry, with a bid to finding a way forward. The President has already informed me of a meeting with him wherein he will give me areas of mandate, which would enable me to know where to work with you.”
“Already, I’m glad that we have very competent management in our various parastatals such as the Department for Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Trust Development Fund, PTDF, and the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, and others. I would like to take briefing from all of you to know where we stand, and where we are going to enable us chart a way forward. So, we would discuss all these in our subsequent meeting.”
Folasade Yemi Esan, the Permanent Secretary in her response lauded the Minister and assured him that the officials in the Ministry would work with him to deliver the mandate Mr. President wants.
“This is one family, and we welcome you as our leader, we are ready to work with you.”
