Obasanjo plans cabinet reshuffle

Abuja -- The names of 12 new ministers slated to join Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's cabinet were read to the senate on Tuesday, feeding speculation that he may name a minister for oil for the first time.

By tradition, the Nigerian senate must vet ministerial nominees without knowing for which post the president has selected them.

But the presence of Obasanjo's oil advisor Edmund Daukoru on the list was taken as a clear sign that, after six years in office, the president has decided to cede direct responsibility for the oil industry to a minister.