Anyone with an ear to the ground probably would have heard quite a bit about the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. If the minister has not heard, there has been quite a groundswell of murmuring around town about how she sits atop the wealth of the nation and not allowing others a piece of the action, whatever that means. If you think that the complaints against the minister are coming from the opposition camps alone, then you are mistaken. Even from her native Bayelsa, there is a creeping opposition against their daughter. It really baffles.
It is against this background that the on-going orchestrated campaign to force Alison-Madueke out of office can be best understood. To be sure, in the past couple of weeks, a ferocious media war has been waged against the minister by her many traducers. She has been accused of indulging herself at the expense of the tax payers so much so that she has wasted about N10 billion belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the past two years on chartered aircraft. While the National Assembly is dragging the minister back and forth to defend the allegations of wrong doing in the transactions surrounding the charter of the private jet, she is being pummelled left, right and centre daily by the media.
It is interesting, however, to note that the NNPC has absolved the minister of any wrong doing in the leasing of the aircraft. The corporation’s defence is anchored on the argument of the time-sensitive nature of the operations in the oil industry. True, anyone conversant with the operations in the oil sector will surely agree that they are such that meetings, inspections, contract signings and other strategic decisions must be taken promptly without allowing any time lag. When you factor the fact that oil-fields and other locations are such that they do not lie along the route of scheduled commercial flights, any argument against the employment of charter planes becomes increasingly idiotic. This is not just true about Nigeria but also holds out in other oil producing countries of the world. For example, anyone who has lived around cities like Eket, Warri, Port Harcourt and other oil production locations in the country must be used to the continuous flight operations of companies like Bristow, Pan-African Airlines and Aero Contractors all day long. These companies are largely contracted by different oil companies to provide logistics support services by transporting workers, equipment and vital documents from one operational base to another by means of charter flights round the clock.
It is possible to argue that given the regularity of the use of charter aircraft in the sector, ownership of the jets may well be a more economical option. But the bad news is that from available information, NNPC had already tried that option and came off worse. The costs of maintaining those jets were so astronomical in the first place – forcing the corporation to the present option of relying on a more economical charter flights for strategic operations. That being the case, why is the minister not receiving accolades for saving public funds through the charter option rather than the unfair attacks arrayed against her? Is Alison-Madueke the first and only petroleum minister to use charter flights in meeting the ever busy schedule of the office? In so doing, has she broken any law? Do those bashing the woman hate her that much that they would not mind her flying the unserviceable planes abandoned long ago by NNPC? Have the enemies of the minister bothered to inquire about the mode of transportation by petroleum ministers of other countries? What exactly has Diezani done wrong to warrant these attacks against her?
It is constantly desirable to pursue transparency and accountability in public office, values, which Alison-Madueke’s traducers are ostensibly waving against her. But this is just a façade for a reeking thirst for the minister’s blood and the plot to force President Goodluck Jonathan to drop her from the cabinet. The orchestrated campaign against Alison-Madueke started back in January 2012, with the attempted removal of the petroleum subsidy by the Federal Government. Whereas the public and civil society groups mobilised against the government policy, the opponents of the minister largely in the leading opposition party worked hard enough to turn the protest to a Diezani–Must –Go campaign! When that strategy failed, the opposition found a willing ally in the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who began to wax a sonorous song on irregularities and fraud around the NNPC accounts. It is reassuring that the President has ordered a forensic investigation of the NNPC accounts to settle this allegation once and for all times.
It would appear that the enemies of Alison-Madueke are so consumed by their desire to destroy the minister that they are ready to pull down the thriving aviation sector altogether. There is no doubt that business jet operation is growing in leaps and bounds and thus contributing significantly to our national economy. This business is, however, governed globally by the confidentiality of information on clients. In the quest to lynch Diezani, her pursuers are willing to do anything to destroy this confidentiality, which serves as the rulebook of business jet operations and ownership. This will definitely destroy the fastest growing sector of the aviation industry with all its wider consequences on the economy.
Ironically, why some people are at home throwing mud at the petroleum minister, the international community is recognising her qualities by assigning more responsibilities to her. She was appointed the Alternate President of OPEC with effect from January 2014, a position that advertises Nigeria’s growing global influence. At home, she is also transforming the critical oil sector by increasing local content and daily production to boost the economy. More importantly, the minister is working herself crazy in trying to get Nigerians to reap the maximum benefits of their status as oil producing nation through the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly.
Yes, Diezani can be accused of being arrogant or haughty but how does that amount to an offence for which she should be fired? Yes, she may have some personal failings that some people detest but since when have those become the bases for rating a minister?
Mustapha Abdullahi contributed this piece from Abuja.
