ABUJA (AFP) — Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua Tuesday appointed the head of the newly created ministry for overseeing the oil-rich but volatile Niger Delta, along with a new finance chief, his office said.
Yar'Adua named Mansur Muhtar of the African Development Bank as finance minister replacing Shamsudeen Usman, now at planning.
He appointed Ufot Ekaette, a senator from the southern oil producing state of Akwa Ibom, to head up the Niger Delta ministry which is supposed to help pacify and develop Nigeria's restive oil region.
Ekaette served as secretary to the federal government under the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Unrest in the Delta has cut Nigeria's crude production by more than one quarter in the past three years.
The Nigerian president also appointed former Imo State governor Achike Udenwa as minister of commerce and industry, and Rilwan Babalola, a civil servant, as minister for power.
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