Umaru Yar Adua, the Nigerian president, has announced a list of ministerial nominees including a former OPEC chief, almost three weeks after sacking half the cabinet. Yar Adua on Tuesday sent the list of 13 nominees to the senate for approval, in order to complete the cabinet reshuffle. Analysts say the list of nominees, including Rilwanu Lukman, the former OPEC secretary-general, who is a likely candidate for the role of energy minister, will not inspire hope that the new team will bring change to the country.

"The names are recycled, the names are fatigued individuals," Abubakar Momoh, a professor of politics at Lagos State University, said. "I don't find any originality, I don't see anything that has been changed in the list that gives any sense that the administration is willing to energise the system ... he is just telling everyone that it is business as usual."

"What investors are looking for in all emerging markets is tangible evidence of good policies being implemented"

The names included Dora Akunyili, who as head of the national drug administration has spearheaded a crackdown on counterfeit drugs, and Babatunde Osotimehin, director-general of the national action committee on HIV/Aids. Sam Egwu, the former Ebonyi state governor, once a candidate for the chairmanship of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), and Shettima Mustapha, ex-agriculture minister, were also on the list.

The list comprised only 13 nominees, short of the 20 ministers sacked by Yar Adua last month.

Others say Lukman's knowledge of the industry as one of the architects of the long-awaited restructuring of state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will be a familiar figure to "nervous foreign oil partners".

Yar Adua will announce which ministerial posts are to be given to each candidate once the list of nominees has been screened and approved by the senate.