Among the 19 persons on the new ministerial nominee’s list released by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is Heineken Lokpobiri.
Heineken Lokpobiri, born on March 3, 1967, is a Nigerian politician who served as a Senator for the Bayelsa West constituency from April 2007 on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He is currently the Nigerian Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development.
He obtained an LL.B (Hons) from Rivers State University of Science and Technology in 1994 and a PhD in Environmental Rights and Environmental Law from Leeds Beckett University, UK, in 2015.
Political career
Lokpobiri served as a member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003, during which he held the position of Speaker from June 1999 to May 2001.
In his first senate term, Lokpobiri was actively involved in various committees, including Sports, Public Accounts, Police Affairs, Niger Delta, and Millennium Development Goals. He chaired the Senate Sports Committee and sponsored the National Agency for Elderly Persons bill.
During his second senate term, he ran for re-election as Bayelsa West Senator in the April 2011 elections but faced challenges due to irregularities. Despite the controversies, he took his seat in the Senate and served as chairman of the Committee on Water Resources and a member of the Committee on Solid Minerals.
In 2015, Lokpobiri switched from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was later appointed as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.