Nigerian minister resigns to become emir

The Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin, has resigned from the Nigerian cabinet.

His resignation follows his selection as the new 12th emir of Nasarawa in his native Nasarawa State.

His resignation was announced Wednesday by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

Addressing the cabinet, Mr Jibrin recalled his time as minister saying he travelled the entire length of Nigeria and has “seen the devastation caused by climate change” and effect of conflict in the North-east.”

He said in the South-south, he saw “fish being fried with crude oil” which made him make up his mind to work with the administration to stop oil pollution in the region and ensure the clean up of Ogoni part of Rivers State.

“Tomorrow the 13 of December, there will be a project meeting in Port Harcourt in which project site will be handed over to contractors

Before now, he said, oil companies were reluctant to release anything, but a commitment by government forced them to changed their mind and $180 million has now been paid.

He said the Ogoni oil clean up project is the biggest project being handled by the Ministry Of Environment and he has refused to “share the money as was done in the past” just to make sure the project does not suffer like others before.

He said Anambra State has over 400 active erosion sites. He called on state governors to be more mindful of environment related issues and use funds from the ecological fund judiciously without leaving the burden to the federal government.

“I urge all my colleagues to continue to support Mr President until we are assured of success,” he said.