The immediate past Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani K. Alison-Madueke, has dismissed the allegations made by the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria to the effect that as former minister, she “sat” on a $15 billion oil deal, describing it as spurious, unfounded and libelous.
Alison-Madueke, who spoke through her lawyers, Messers Chike Amobi and Co., said the High Commissioner Mr. Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam’s acrimony towards her was due to the refusal of the Federal Government of Nigeria to allow the Indian company, Oil and Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL), default on its contractual obligation to provide a $ 6 billion investment, (around RS 36, 600 crore) in an 180,000 barrels (bpd) Greenfield refinery and 2,000 megawatt power plant or railway line from East to West of Nigeria.
In a release made available to journalists in Abuja, the former minister said the publication by Ghanashyam to the effect that she delayed the approval of oil concession to twin Indian companies, Oil and Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL) and Mittal Energy International JV, OMEL (MITTAL) in 2006, after receiving a $25,000,000 signature bonus, was spurious, false and lacking in substance.
Madueke clarified that she was not the Minister of Petroleum Resources in 2006 when the said Indian companies entered into contractual agreement with the federal government and as such, wouldn’t have received any signature bonus either as a citizen or minister of the federal republic.
She also said she had no personal reason to sit on the contract and wondered why the high commissioner would choose to malign and attack her rather than commend her acting dispassionately in recommending for refund of the said signature bonus to the Indians when the matter was brought to her attention at the twilight of her tenure as minister.
