ALISON-MADUEKE: LET NO ONE SAY I STOLE $20BN BECAUSE I DID NOT

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke needs no introduction. She has the unique distinction of holding a ministerial post for eight unbroken years under two successive administrations. But it was her tenure as the Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 for which she would be most remembered. In her position as minister and Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, her tenure was riddled with controversies, allegations of corruption, mismanagement and opacity that would take years to live down. She was deemed aloof, inaccessible and an absentee minister who was hardly at her desk. She was reviled and blamed for much of the ills – real and imagined – of the oil and gas sector.

But in this rare, unrestrained and unsparingly brutal two-hour interview with Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, she finally addressed several of the questions that had been begging for answers. Among other issues, she spoke on her accomplishments and the structural problems of the petroleum sector, Emir Mohammad Sanusi II and the $20 billion question, the PwC forensic audit, her attempts to turn around NNPC and its exploration and production subsidiary NPDC, the efforts to end the fuel subsidy regime and privatise the refineries, the contending forces and personalities whom she came up against as minister, her stand off with the National Assembly, her current absence from the country, and the general perception and rumours that swirled around her stewardship. Excerpts:

JONATHAN INHERITED BACKLOG OF SUBSIDY PAYMENT –DIEZANI

…Says oil cabal after her 
Embattled Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has stated that contrary to popular opinion and belief, the contentious backlog of subsidy payment that has continued to dominate the political space was inherited by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke admitted that the backlog dates back to over 40 years and wondered why oil marketers would expect the outgoing government to reduce the debt to zero. She said such expectations are cynical and unrealistic.
We are faced with a situation where the marketers want this administration to pay them all the money they were being owed before the tenure runs out on May 29,” she said, but added that “this is a difficult situation more peculiarly because this administration did not incur all the debt, which actually goes back 40 years.

DIEZANI: I’M BEING PERSECUTED FOR STEPPING ON BIG TOES IN OIL INDUSTRY

• I never committed any crime
• I reduced corruption in NNPC’
• Says she needs no soft landing as she has not been indicted of any crime
Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Wednesday said she was being persecuted for stepping on big toes while ridding the petroleum sector of corruption.
She equally declared that she had not sought for assistance from anywhere to protect her name as reported in some dailies, because she has not been indicted for committing any crime.
The petroleum minister, who fielded questions from State House correspondents, said she had done her best for Nigeria and attained many firsts in the history of oil and gas especially in the reforms carried out by President Goodluck Jonathan's administration.
"In this period of time, I have stepped on many big toes, particularly the feet of the cabals that were in the industry when we came in. Because I have said severally that we will open up the industry to all Nigerians and we have, but that is not to the pleasure of certain cabals.

I’M NOT SEEKING ASYLUM ANYWHERE, SAYS DIEZANI

Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said Tuesday night, she was not seeking asylum in any part of the world, as claimed by her traducers.
Madueke, who spoke through the Group Public Affairs General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, denied ever contemplating relocating from Nigeria.
An online publication reported Tuesday that the minister had been denied asylum by six countries where she had so far applied but did not mention the countries involved.

Earlier this evening Sahara Reporters published a blockbuster report they got from Business Council for Africa (BCA) claiming that Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been denied asylum by six countries where she had so far applied. The report claims she's looking for a country to run to before Gen. Buhari takes over as president because she's scared she might be probed or jailed.

ALISON-MADUEKE: ON CORRUPTION, FIGURES BANDIED BY OPPOSITION DO NOT EXIST

Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke recently had a media chat to explain some of the burning issues in her ministry. She talked about allegations of corruption, the N10bn expenditure on jet hire, the subsidy on kerosene and others. The Guardian was there.
On Kerosene Subsidy
THERE was a Presidential directive to withdraw subsidy on kerosene. It is possible that the then Minister of Petroleum must have gone to discuss it with the President and was perhaps able to convince him on the need to stay action on the directive. I assume that may have been what happened, but he overlooked regularising in terms of getting him to rescind the order. So, if anybody flouted the Presidential order, then it must have been the Minister of Petroleum. But since the directive was not gazetted and was not also announced, it was not a law. It was mainly a directive on paper because there are procedures a directive must follow to become a law and become implementable. I don’t know why people keep referring to this. But anyway, another president came and appointed his own cabinet and moved on.

MISSING NNPC OIL FUNDS: DEZIANI SUES APC AND MEDIA HOUSES

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has sued 11 organizations and individuals over the missing $20billion oil funds.
The funds were reported missing from the coffers of theNigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), by formerCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Mrs Alison-Madueke has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain members of the media from linking her with the missing money.
The defendants in the case are the All Progressives Congress(APC), Vanguard Media Limited and its editor, Mideno Bayagbon, Leadership Newspapers Group Limited and its editorEkele Peter Agbo, Premium Times Services Limited and its editor in chief, Dapo Olorunyomi, and Vintage Press Limited and its editor, Lekan Otufodunrin.
Also joined in the application were the National Broadcasting Corporation and the Nigerian Press Council.

HOW MY OPEC PRESIDENCY WILL HELP NIGERIA, BY ALLISON-MADUEKE

• Sliding oil price, production worsen nation’s economic woes 
• Experts urge diversified economy 
NEWLY-ELECTED President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke has assured that she would use her new position working with other members of the oil cartel to work towards promoting Nigeria’s interest.
She is also Nigeria’s Petroleum Resources minister.
Meanwhile, there are fresh indications that Nigeria’s economy currently hit by sliding crude oil prices may also be contending with declining production of the commodity.
Although Nigeria has the capacity to produce 2.5mbp, this target is far below the reality on ground, as the country’s crude oil production has not risen to two million barrels since the first quarter of this year.
This has been attributed to crude oil theft, low investment in exploration as a result of the delay in the Passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and insecurity in the Niger Delta area.

JET CHARTER: ALISON-MADUEKE, NNPC FILE FRESH SUIT AGAINST PROBE

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani Alison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday slammed a fresh suit on the Senate and the House of Representatives seeking an order of the court to stop the planned probe of N10 billion on chartering of aircraft. The fresh suit was in furtherance of the Originating Summons filed two weeks ago.
The House of Representatives had fixed June 17 for the probe. In a similar suit before Justice A.R Mohammed of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, the court had refused to grant an order of interim injunction raised by counsel to NNPC in the suit.

ALISON-MADUEKE FINGERED IN PR DRIVE TO LAUNDER GOVT’S IMAGE

• Petroleum minister not involved, says NNPC
The federal government is said to be seeking public relations counsel amid increasing pressure over its response to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Boko Haram militant group more than a month ago in Chibok.
According to the Holmes Report, an in-house online publication of the UK-based Holmes Group which specialises in public relations consultancy, government representatives, led by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, have met approximately five PR firms in London regarding the assignment, as government attempts to counter mounting criticism both inside and outside the country on the Chibok abduction saga.

REPS CAN’T SUMMON ME WITHOUT PRESIDENT’S CONSENT – DIEZANI

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has said that the National Assembly cannot investigate her without first obtaining the consent of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Alison-Madueke, who is being probed by the House of Representatives over an allegation that she spent N10bn on a chartered aircraft, said the House Committee on Public Accounts lacked the power to even summon her to appear before it.
The minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation made the submissions in an affidavit they filed in support of a fresh suit before an Abuja Federal High Court to stop the probe.
The suit was filed last week but the affidavit was obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.

WE WON’T PROBE DIEZANI –PRESIDENCY

The Presidency has said that it will not probe the allegations of misappropriation of public funds levelled against the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday, that the Federal Government would not set up a probe panel to investigate the minister because the House of Representatives was currently probing her.
Alison-Madueke was alleged to have spent N10bn on a chartered Challenger 850 aircraft in two years for which the House of Representatives is currently probing her.
Okupe said that the Federal Government could not institute a probe panel on matters that had not been substantiated.
Okupe, who spoke to one of our correspondents in a telephone interview in Abuja, on Friday, said since the House of Representatives had started investigating the matter, the right thing to do was to wait for the outcome of such a probe before any further step could be taken.

WE DIDN’T CHARTER PRIVATE JET FOR DIEZANI -NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Monday denied it chartered any jet for the exclusive use of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The corporation however stated that it was empowered by law to own or charter aircraft for its use.
In a statement signed by the acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Omar Ibrahim, the corporation stated that it had not chartered any aircraft for the exclusive use of the minister or any particular official of the NNPC.
A motion endorsed by the House of Representatives last Thursday indicated that Alison-Madueke allegedly spent N10bn to run a private jet for her personal trips within Nigeria and abroad.
But the NNPC noted that contrary to the information, the minister had not chartered any aircraft for her personal use or the use of her family.

BANK SUES ALISON-MADUEKE, NNPC, OTHERS FOR N1.7 BILLION

A BUSINESS dispute between Zenith Bank Plc and Nigdel United Oil Company Limited over a N1.7 billion loan facility the bank granted the oil firm to acquire an oil bloc in 2006 has taken a legal dimension.

The bank has dragged the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and three others before a Federal High Court in Lagos claiming ownership of the oil bloc. 

Zenith Bank, in the case before Justice Okechuckwu Okeke, is praying the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the minister, her agents, servants, privies, or whosoever is acting on her behalf from recognising Nigdel oil, owned by popular businessman and Delta State politician, Prince Joseph Panawou, as the rightful owner of the OPL 233 oil bloc since same was paid for by the bank on behalf of the oil company which it has allegedly refused to pay back.

DECLINING U.S. DEMAND FOR NIGERIA’S OIL, THREAT TO ECONOMY –FG

•2013 budget delays $1b Ogoniland clean up

•NNPC, Shell, others to contribute 80%

Federal Government on Tuesday acknowledged for the first time that it faces challenges over the declining demand for Nigeria’s crude oil by the United States of America which has increased its local production to attain self sufficiency.

The U.S. is a major importer of Nigeria’s oil which accounts for over 80 per cent of its export, and 75.6 per cent of government revenues between January and November 2012, according to data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The local economy is crude sale driven and dependent on government patronage.

WHY OIL CABAL WANTS ME OUT OF JONATHAN’S CABINET -ALLISON-MADUEKWE

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, has said that those calling for her removal from President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet are fighting the President because she has been very instrumental to the administration’s resolve to smash the cartel in the petroleum industry to save the country’s economy.
She maintained that, in line with the president’s directive, she created a transparent process and level playing field that had denied them the opportunity to continue ‘business as usual’ in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

NEITI REPORT: NNPC CORNERED N2.1TRN OIL PROCEEDS IN 2 YEARS

In a rather consistent trend, the 2009-2011 report of the oil and gas sector audit conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has again revealed that the federation lost about N2.153 trillion to unwholesome activities of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The report released yesterday also showed that the federal government earned a total of $143.5 billion, about N22.24 trillion (at N155 to $1) from the oil and gas sector between 2009 and 2011.

A breakdown of the revenue lost to the activities of the NNPC as contained in the report showed that financial flows from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), including  dividends and repayment of loans, of which $4.84 billion was received by the NNPC, was not remitted by the Corporation.