Diezani Madueke and the Lynch Mob

I am not a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but I am a huge fan of Diezani Madueke. I am always in awe of her star quality and how comfortable she is in front of camera. She also has a graceful touch for putting audiences at ease. She has a cool and hard to ruffle temperament. Her unique combination of intelligence, toughness and often startling humanity has always been a wonderful advertisement.  Apart from her support for the removal of subsidy, I think she has done much to revolutionize the petroleum sector. To tell it like it is, I think it is unfair for anybody to contemplate the removal of fuel subsidy in such a backward economy as ours. We have had a long run of ill-luck in leadership that has given birth to chronic economic slump. The masses of this country need whatever succor they can get to cushion the effect of excruciating poverty. But she is not entirely to be blamed for such policy formulation because she has to support the official position of the government.  Left to her, I doubt if she could have taken that route.

While Madueke has a lot of accomplishment to her credit, the signature trait that has created problem for her is- confidence. Most people don't admire her gusto. The press has mostly painted a repugnant picture of her and there has been a lot of childish name calling. Most people are envious of her position and they just exult at the prospect of pulling her down. Most of her detractors are resentful that their voices go unheard while Madueke's loom large. This is simply a hideous manifestation of envy. That success brings envy is a popular aphorism and it applies with delicious tartness to the petroleum sector. The petroleum sector is a strange mix of glitz and sleaze. She needs all the concentration she can get to focus on her job.  The sector is vital to the revamping of our economy. We need a change that will end economic underperformance, stop the terrifying accumulation of debt and re-establish a secure fiscal foundation for Nigerian national security. Nigeria has borne scant resemblance to anything like an emerging power and Madueke seems dedicated to contributing her quota to changing the narrative.

In one of the attacks on her in a national daily, the writer expressed shock that a woman could hold three different top spots in the country since 2007. “In September 2008, there was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Mrs. Allison Madueke by those not happy with her style of administration at her house in Abuja. To compensate her for such unexpected attack on her person and the trauma she may have gone through from the hands of her abductors, the federal government made her Minister for Mines and Steel Development on 23 rd of December 2008. Diezani on October 2009 fell prey to the dreaded watchful eyes of the Senate which indicted her and recommended her for prosecution for alleged transfer of N1.2 billion into private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement. However, due to the powerful connection of Diezani with top echelons of government, the allegations have not been proven till date and the minister has maintained her seeming innocence.”

This is the kind of disturbing and unsubstantiated writing that are directed against her person. Her being a woman and a Minister has earned her plenty of enemies and drawn rebuke on many flanks. All these allegations of financial misappropriation are still in the realm of speculation.   It is necessary to remind the writer above that Madueke did not stomp her way to the centre stage. Her credentials brought her there. She is insanely successful by the standard of her profession.  Madueke is so much a brand as she is an architect. She has 'inc' in her veins.  Most of the things written about her are not true. We should have respect for the people. They people should have a right to information that is truthful, verifiable, contextualized and plural. These things could only happen in a Third World country where democratic institutions remain weakly rooted.  There is nothing wrong with criticism but it has got to be constructive. Attempts should be made to write with facts and figures. Maybe people are not appreciating her efforts because she is not making use of spin and sound bites. She is not given to chest thumping theatrics and making touchy-feely speeches. Under her regime, significant milestone has been recorded in the oil and gas sector as Nigeria's crude oil production increased from 204 million barrels to 2.7 million bpd. She has said that the Nation's oil reserves can grow to 40 billion barrels from 36 billion barrels by 2020 with daily production capacity of 4 million barrels. The current Nigerian crude oil reserves are over 36 billion barrels and a production capacity of about 2.5 million per day.

  Writing about her numerous achievements will be an effort for another day.   But suffice it to say that by her achievements, she has raised the ante. The politics of oil are so vicious precisely because the stakes are high. In another contribution in the Punch newspaper, she was already condemned outside the law court. “The recently un-covered financial recklessness and obscene lifestyle involving Diezani Allison Madueke is truly the apex of cumulative impunity by the Minister of Petroleum Resources. She is accused of living extravagantly at the expense of Nigerians by wasting about N10 billion to maintain one of the three private jets she is using for official and personal travel. More shocking disclosures are still streaming in. the details of the preliminary enquiry in the House of Representative are unnerving. The minister is said to have spent N3-21 billion in two years to maintain a Challenger business jet. Every time she flies the second jet on a round trip, taxpayers lose N137 million, while the cost of the third aircraft is still ascertained. The irreducible minimum Nigerians demand of the House Public Accounts committee is to establish the facts of the case.”

    While are they writing as if the facts of the case has been established? Most of these things are hugely in the realm of conjecture. The president recently gave context to what happened: that ministry has always been assigned a private jet. Senator Kanti Bello is among a few that are sane in this season of anomy. He has this to say about Madueke: “I know the woman. I knew her when she was a Minister of works. She has and remains one of the best Ministers as far as I am concerned.  An allegation of that nature must be well grounded. Who has not been hiring a Jet? Most Executives in government have been doing it. Even a director can hire a Jet. We should not be taken for a ride.” The attacks on her are so frustratingly unbalanced.  The members of the House have continued to snarl and slobber for her blood. It seems an unknown force is behind her problem. And all the aggrieved are bowing to the force's diktak.   Her going to court to the stop the summon from the House is a logical thing to do. She has already been condemned without her side of the story.  Answering their call would have been the biggest error of her adult life. She provided real leadership under pressure in standing up to the members of the House of Representative who are among the most troglodytic and reactionary hacks. They would have ridden the probe in the direction advantageous to their interest.

The job is not an easy one. A potent pressure has grown and it is not easy to stay clean and flawless. In this kind of position, one must project competence to survive. But the honourable Minister is a courageous woman who will not duck.  She has a plan for the petroleum sector. Madueke believes more in content than in form, more in reform than in rhetoric.  She brought to the sector experience both in the business and in executive sector. Those who have worked closely with her have commended her character traits- a deliberative process of decision making, a disciplined evaluation of costs and benefits and perhaps above all an instinctive feel for the power of strategic restraint.  Madueke has also excelled as a mother and a wife. I will end this article with a lengthy quote from her: “Interestingly, I suppose I am still one of those women who feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman excelling in corporate and public service and yet should ensure she does her best to excel as a wife and mother. In our culture, it will be absolutely foolhardy for any woman to set out to excel in service at the expense of her family. One must balance the two. When I mentor younger women, I teach them that the higher you rise, the more homely you should become. There are times I would actually come home after a few trip, and spend the entire weekend to cook various dishes to be frozen down for my husband during the course of the week   so that he can enjoy my home-cooked meals as much as possible. I expect every woman to try to make her home a very inviting and comfortable haven for husbands and children to return to daily, no matter what it takes, otherwise their personal success as women won't be complete.”

Ikechukwu Orji is a Media Consultant and a Journalist

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