Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari is to take personal charge of the countrys crucial oil portfolio, his spokesman said on Tuesday, as a deadline loomed for him to finally nominate his cabinet.

Reports from New York, where Buhari has been attending the UN General Assembly, quoted the president as saying he would be minister of petroleum resources, with a junior minister taking charge of day-to-day affairs in the sector.
The president has vowed to recover mind-boggling sums of stolen oil cash, starting with a drastic overhaul of state-run oil firm the Nigerian National Petroleum Company .
Buhari helped establish the NNPC in 1977 as oil minister under military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo.