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House Of Reps Members Summon Diezani Over Oil Swap Deals

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The House of Representatives, on Monday, dispatched a letter to former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, inviting her to come explain how she extended contracts for crude oil worth $24bn without valid agreements.

The Chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed on Monday that a letter had been dispatched to Alison-Madueke to appear before the committee on March 2.

“Yes, she has been asked to come on March 2. The letter left the secretariat today,” Mohammed stated.

The letter was sent through the office of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

In the committee hearing, there were allegations that two firms, Duke Oil and Tranfigura, were given contracts in 2011 under the controversial crude-for-refined products (swap) deals executed by the NNPC between 2010 and 2014.

The NNPC was allocated 445,000 barrels of crude daily to refine for domestic consumption but resorted to exchanging part of the crude for refined products, due to the failure of the country’s three refineries, by engaging Duke Oil and Tranfigura.

Duke Oil has been revealed as a subsidiary of the NNPC, while Tranfigura is an offshore firm trading in Nigeria’s crude but does not pay tax to the Federal Government.

The committee, which is investigating the deals, was told, last week, that Duke Oil and Tranfigura got original contracts in 2010 to last one year.

After the contracts expired in 2011, the former minister reportedly ordered an “extension” of the contracts till 2014, without signing any valid agreements with the firms.

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