Nigeria’s Buhari: Oil companies see optimism and risks

Nigeria’s new government, headed by former-general Muhammadu Buhari, arrives with plans which could be positive for the oil companies - but with the risk of stirring up increased dissent in the producing areas

BUHARI was a decisive oil minister and head of the state company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), for three years in the 1970s, before becoming an iron-rule president for 20 months after a military coup in 1983. Buhari’s election campaign laid stress on tackling Nigeria’s corruption and security problems, and he is expected to be a reformer in the administration of the oil industry. But, as a Muslim from the north of the country, he will have to tread carefully to avoid escalating the troubles in the southern Niger delta area — the heartland of the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan.  The new government is expected to make a priority of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill