Diezani Alison-Madueke
A former Group Managing Director of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Austin Oniwon, confirmed on
Tuesday that there was no formal contract between the NNPC and trading
companies that lifted $24bn worth of crude oil from the country between 2011
and 2014.
Oniwon told the House of
Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap that a former Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, merely granted the
“extension” of an earlier contract.
He said the extension was not a
formal contract before he (Oniwon) left office in 2012.
The committee is chaired by an All
Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kwara State, Mr. Zakari Mohammed.
“There was an approval for the
extension by the minister; I believe the records are with the NNPC,” he added.
The NNPC began taking 445,000 barrels
of crude daily in 2010 for refining in a bid to meet the country’s local demand
of petroleum products.
But when the country’s refineries
failed to run, the NNPC resorted to exchanging the crude (swap) for refined
products through an arrangement with appointed crude trading firms.