‘I did not sell oil block’ – Diezani Alison Madueke

The Minister of Petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke on Tuesday said that she did not sell any oil block since assuming office as a minister. She said this while responding to questions from the Chairman, House of Representative ad-hoc committee on the probe of the management of fuel subsidy, Farouk Lawal.

Mrs Alison-Madueke said it was important to clear the air about the sale of Nigeria oil blocks since some news outlet had reported that she sold some oil blocks without following the due process.

The Minister further cleared the air on the actual daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), petrol in Nigeria. The Executive Secretary of Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Stanley Reginald during his presentation before the probe committee said that Nigeria consumes 59 million litres of petrol per day. This contradicted the figure previously given by Mrs Alison-Madueke who pegged the daily consumption at 35 million litres per day. The reasons giving for the disparity of the figures is as varied as the figures themselves.

Though Mr Reginald told the probe committee that the 59 Million litres figure he presented was the total volume of petrol that is discharged into storage facilities in Nigeria, the Petroleum Minister said the 35 Million litres figure she gave the committee is generic. She said that the government use that figure as a benchmark for planning.

The Minister told the committee that the major problems militating against the Nigeria petroleum industry are smuggling and pipeline vandalization. She enjoined the lawmakers to focus on making laws and policies that will curb these problems.