The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ajjampur R.
Ghanashyam, has revealed the dubious practice by former Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Diezani Allison Madueke in selling crude to India through
intermediaries, thus denying Nigeria’s treasury of the full proceed.
India is now Nigeria’s number one crude buyer, an
importation that grosses $15 billion yearly.
But under Diezani Alison-Madueke, commission agents creamed
away some of the billions, when Nigeria’s treasury ought to have enjoyed the
full benefit. Nigeria is the only oil producing nation selling its oil this
way. Other nations make the sale, country-country.
“From other countries, when we buy oil, whatever we want to
pay, we pay to the Ministry of Finance of that country. In Nigeria, we pay to
intermediaries. We would like to be dealing directly with the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It’s not a good thing. Why should we go through
intermediaries?
“Secondly, we would also like to have long term agreement,
which we have with many countries: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other
countries from where we buy oil. Nigeria is the only country with whom we don’t
have an agreement. .. When we write a letter to NNPC, we don’t get a response,”
Ghanashyam told Nigeria’s newspaper, Daily Trust.
The newspaper quoting NNPC 2014 Annual Statistical Bulletin
reported that India bought 136,419,844 barrels of crude oil from Nigeria. The
relationship continues.
The Indian High Commissioner added that apart from the lack
of long-term agreement between the two countries on crude oil purchases, in
2006, an Indian company, Oil & Natural Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL)
and Mittal Energy International, which is a joint venture between OVL, an
Indian government company, and Mittal Energy a private firm, applied for oil
concession. The Signature bonus sum of $25 million was paid, but neither was
the oil concession granted nor the money paid returned to the Indian companies.
“How many years is it? Nine years. Even to get the
concession is not possible, and the money is not refunded to us. For nine years
your country has been sitting on this, and they make us go round and round and
round. We buy $15 billion worth of crude oil per year and we have the potential
of importing $50 billion worth of crude oil from Nigeria. We can buy more
because our requirement is going up.

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