Originally posted by shandj
grant select any table privilege to that user.

The user can access v$tables and also dba_ tables.
And while you at that, why not simpl grant him DBA privilege? And perhaps SYSDBA on top of that? Or, to make it even more simple, why not simply all your user know the SYS password and let them all allways connect as SYS? You know, as DBA you'll have far less troubles with user managenment this way!