The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, a transparency advocacy group has asked the board of governors of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, to reverse the appointment of Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, as its President, over issues bordering on her integrity.
In a letter addressed to the board, CACOL said having the likes of Alison-Madueke presiding on OPEC may spell doom for the integrity of the international body, given the several allegations of corruption and abuse of office leveled against her.
The letter which was signed by the group’s executive chairman, Debo Adeniran, reminded the board of some of the unresolved questions surrounding the minister, including wastage of the nation’s resources under the guise of performing her official functions, engagement in questionable deals, connivance with some oil and gas multinationals to rob Nigeria of large amounts of money, direct stealing of the nation’s money, and using her position to siphon the country’s earnings to foreign lands for personal interests.
The group alleged that since her appointment as oil minister, Nigeria has lost a minimum of $46 billion through some of the aforesaid avenues, and that even when several groups had raised concerns over the manner in which she runs the ministry, there has been no significant reaction from the appropriate authorities.
“More so, a 2011 KPMG forensic report on the NNPC uncovered monumental sleaze and corruption in almost all aspects of the petroleum sector…As if that was not enough, the Federal Government commissioned a Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force chaired by the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in 2012 to look into the activities of the NNPC chaired by the oil minister. This Task Force indicted Diezani of handing out at least three out of seven discretionary oil licenses that did not account for $183million in signature bonuses among other misdeeds,” the letter said.
CACOL is of the opinion that charity must begin at home and since Alison-Madueke has not been able to prove her mettle in Nigeria, handing over a greater responsibility like the OPEC presidency on her would spell disaster..
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“We hereby advise that she be removed because of myriads of questions bothering on corruption, graft and unjustifiable avarice that she is yet to address. Having the like of Diezani Alison-Madueke presiding on OPEC may spell doom for the integrity of the international body,” it added.