Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibeh Kachikwu, believes President Muhammadu Buhari will run for the 2019 Presidential Election and may win.
While speaking with Richard Quest, CNN’s anchor, Kachikwu said he believes Buhari has a good chance of winning the polls in 2019 if he chooses to run.
Though the two were discussing about the impact of petroleum on Nigeria’s economy, the topic veered into how President Buhari has been handling the economic challenge, particularly in terms of diversifying the national economy from petrol.
“It is realistic. Five or seven years. Petroleum led us into this problem; it has to lead us out,” Kachikwu told Quest.
Quest inquired about the progress on the petroleum sector reforms, to which Kachikwu responded: “about 50 percent”.
Quest, again, asked: “Is it likely, because within another year your president or the party will be fighting in an election, and pretty much you are already in an election mode?”, and Kachikwu responded: “Those of us in government are focused on getting work done; the president is probably going to win the election anyway.”