By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said yesterday that she has not done anything wrong that would make her to seek asylum or a “soft landing” prelude to the May 29, 2015 handover date to the incoming administration headed by General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
There have been speculations lately that the minister might bolt out of the country before the handover or seek “an understanding” with Buhari over some alleged malfeasance in her ministry, one of which is the reported unaccounted $20 billion oil revenue.
Before his sack by the Jonathan Administration, the then governor of the Central Bank, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had blown the whistle over an alleged non-remittance of a whopping $20 billion oil revenue to the federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Sanusi, who subsequently became the Emir of Kano, repeated the claim recently in an interview with Christiane Amanpour of the Cable News Network (CNN).
The NNPC has, however, disputed the claim, pointing at the findings of the Senate Committee on Finance
and a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
But since Buhari’s landslide victory in the presidential poll, there have been speculations that Alison-Madueke was trying to seek asylum abroad or reach a rapproachment with the incoming government in order not to stand trial for corruption.
Her recent visit to former head of state Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar was fingered as one of her moves to bring in prominent northerners with Buhari’s ear to intervene on her behalf.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday, however, Alison-Madueke stated that she would remain in Nigeria at the expiration of the tenure of the present administration on May 29.
She said: “I have not sought such assistance because I am not aware that I have been indicted of any crime that I will need a soft landing.
“Over the last four years, I have been severally and unfortunately accused and labelled in so many malicious and vindictive ways. I have explained these things and pushed back robustly on these accusations and I have even gone to court on many of them.
“Yet they keep being regurgitated. And I think it is unfortunate, particularly when we are moving into a transition period and looking forward to an incoming government which is coming to take over where we have ended.
“For everything that has a beginning there is an end and that is not a surprise. What is the surprise is the sort of malevolence bordering on personal malicious libel to my person during this period of time.
“So, let me state it clearly for the record that Nigeria is my country and I am not going anywhere. I love my country and I do think that I have done the best for my country and I would also like to point that these malicious, malevolent, vindictive libels coming out of places like Osun Defender and other faceless online and other entities need to stop.
“We have done enough for this industry, we cannot please everybody.
“Yes, we have stepped on toes but we did that in the best interest of Nigeria and we have opened up the oil and gas industry to all Nigerians; thousands of Nigerians have benefitted from our reforms in the system.”
The minister said the hate campaigns against her in newspapers and online publications were being sponsored by the powerful interests that she fought in the oil and gas sector that were making things uncomfortable for Nigerians.
“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.
“And I have been continuously maligned because of this and we have taken millions and in fact billions of dollars out of the hands of forming multinationals and their subcontractors and put them in the hands of Nigerians through Nigerian Content. Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have come into the oil and gas industry because of our reforms.”
The minister also denied that the NNPC was delaying to remit to government coffers the $1.48 billion (N294.5 billion) uncovered by a recent forensic audit, saying the process of remitting the money had started.
“The PricewaterhouseCoopers’ forensic audit that was done few weeks ago, in its recommendation, mentioned that $1.48 billion was owed by NPDC for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), which is its subsidiary, and they felt that the right process would be that NPDC will refund that money to the federation account. NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on same. So, the refund has actually begun.”
She said the NNPC, under her leadership, was the first to admit openly that there were gaps, stressing that it is only under the present administration that the NNPC became this open, transparent and audited.
“I have said during our time that there are gaps in the NNPC and I said that openly,” she said. “But I can also say that there is no time in Nigerian history in the oil and gas that the NNPC has been as open and audited as it is today. It has been positioned to go forward in the industry.
“It is true that the revenue profile is not sustainable. But we have done our best and the Nigerian oil and gas sector is today in a better shape than it has ever been in terms of achievements that we have recorded.”
On the current fuel queues in some parts of the country, Alison-Madueke said distributors were responsible because there were enough petroleum products available for Nigerians.
“This is very unfortunate and you know that product supply and distribution have been one of the high points of this administration when we came in. Unfortunately, you are coming into a transition; whenever certain things are happening, intruders will hijack the process and certain amount of hoarding taking place for various reasons.
“This is what we are experiencing and there is no reason for this because our reserves are enough to keep the country wet with products throughout this period.
“I will plead with marketers to please make the fuel available. PMS is available. Make it available to Nigerians.
“We have worked so hard to build the system and we don’t want it distracted in these latter days.”
