Oil Minister, Contractors at War Over Niger Delta

NIGERIA's Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, and a regional contractor bloc in the Niger Delta, are currently at logger heads over the interest of the oil and gas region that has been a hot bed of low intensity war till the amnesty programme came to effect last December.

The South-South Contractors Forum in the oil and gas sector, are accusing the minister of ''anti-Niger Delta tendencies'' and as such, are opposed to her being included in President Goodluck Jonathan's next cabinet.

But the obviously angry Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levy Ajuonuma, told a correspondent of AkanimoReports in Abuja, the country's metropolitant capital city, ''it is unacceptable to employ the deliberate use of character assassination to achieve political ambition''.

The NNPC spokesman had earlier claimed that the minister has never been indicted by any political authority in the country including the National Assembly.

According to Ajuonuma, the accusers of the oil minister may be working in concert with some ''desperate power grabbers and rent seekers bent on seeking the downfall of the hardworking Minister of Petroleum Resources for their personal gain''.

President of the contractors forum, Deremo Peters, from Bayelsa State and the Secretary, Timi Cap, from Delta State had in a statement to AkanimoReports on Friday, accused the minister of working against the interest of the oil region.

“Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke is undermining the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region; she is a total failure to the Niger Delta struggle,” the contractors alleged.

According to them, ''since she mounted the saddle as oil minister, she has done nothing positive to the development of the Niger Delta. We expected her to develop our forum so that we can as well develop our people.”

Continuing, they said, ''before she was appointed as oil minister, most of our members started building capacity to work with the oil companies, but when she came in, the situation became worse for us because instead of encouraging those of us that have invested to build up capacity, she started giving out jobs to her old friends in Shell from the West, East and North, turning her back on her own people from the South-South''

The forum is challenging her to make public anything she has done to empower the Ijaw people since she became a minister.

“We all know that qualified contractors in Ijaw nation that can work in oil and gas both in onshore and offshore are not hiding, but we have not been empowered by the minister. President Jonathan did a good thing by appointing one of our own as the oil minister so as to solve the poverty in the oil-rich region, but the reverse is the case. The local content policy as far as we are concerned only favour the minister and her cartel and if you are not in their cartel, nobody will look your way,” the Forum stated and advised President Jonathan to appoint ministers that can spread his goodluck to the grassroots.

“So that poverty-stricken people of the Niger Delta region will benefit and know that their son is really the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” they added.

The seemingly aggrieved contractors also took on the minister on the distribution of petroleum products and major construction works.

According to them; “Oil minister must be transparent in the distribution of petroleum products; let no cartel hijack the process and also we want to see fairness in the award of contract in the oil and gas industry. Our people should be favoured in oil/gas pipelines work as well as installation of oil platform jacket; all these projects should be given to the locals that have invested to build capacity and not to be given to Saipem, Daewoo, OPI and Acergy. These companies have nothing to contribute to the Nigerian economy; they can only contribute to the treasury of those stealing our money and taking the money to foreign countries.”

They then argued, ''if you give Nigerian contractors from the Niger Delta region these projects, they will develop their communities and give employment to our people; this is why we are saying that the Petroleum Minister has not done anything with the golden opportunity given to her by the President, she is a total failure to the Niger Delta struggle and she must not rock the boat for President Jonathan.”

ENDS

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