by Stanley Azuakola

Has the president’s call for arrests stemming from the fuel subsidy probe report caused unrest at NNPC? It appears so.

At a ministerial forum in Abuja on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, cried out in defiance against the report of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Subsidy Probe.

She said the report which indicted her on the grounds of illegal deductions by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for subsidy claims, was an unfair judgement. She averred that she has never flouted any presidential directive, ever since she became minister.

“The laws that we were given or the directive given by the current president, who put us in office, has in fact been complied with to the letter of the law,” Alison-Madueke said.

The minister also saw no wrong in her decision as the chairman of the board of the NNPC in approving that subsidy deduction be done from source, arguing that the issue is subject to judicial interpretation of the provisions of the constitution.

According to her, since it was very possible for a competent court to have a different view from the House on the matter, “It was probably quite unfair for the Committee to conclude that I did not take appropriate steps to stop the practice that has been on long before I came into appointment.”