Who is afraid of Alison-Madueke?

In the  last few weeks, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,has come under intense and sustained attacks ostensibly from members of the opposition party.

The airwaves and papers have been awash with the now usual spurious allegations of missing monies, private jets et al. However, before delving into the latest wave of well scripted polemics against the minister, the question again remains: Have our journalists and politicians lost touch with reality? Is this resort to populist blackmail really the way to run a country? Do these sensational headlines with no substance to back them really do any good to the nation’s reputation or standing?

So far, we have been inundated with a medley of often convoluted facts and figures about missing funds, that any rational person would, at first glance, agree are a figment of some people’s imagination. Several fair minded commentators have weighed in at various fora to point out some obvious facts.

The initial amount mentioned was in excess of the nation’s budget, and somehow government continued to run. The sum changed so frequently that ordinary people lost track of exactly how much was “allegedly missing”. The Senate set up a committee to look into the whole saga and, at the last count, the sum remaining to be reconciled stood at circa $1.4bn not the alleged $48bn that was shouted from the roof tops. NNPC has repeatedly answered all questions and provided tons of data to the committee to enable it complete its probe into the matter. The final analysis is that no money is “missing”, but is simply the subject of reconciliation between agencies of the government.

What is then becoming clear is that these attacks are purely partisan in nature, intended to throw as much mud at the issue till it sticks. This tends to lend some credence to the adage that “A lie told enough times can become the truth”.

To the neutral observer, this appears to be a well-orchestrated attack along party lines to discredit the current administration. All the achievements in the industry such as local content growth, indigenous companies participating at par with international players etc. are lost in the noise. All the gains made in gas-to-power and the attempt by this government to reposition the industry with the PIB are lost in the cacophony of misplaced headlines.

All of these seeming distractions have a net effect on the international community’s perception of Nigeria. They do not help with investor confidence and cause nothing but a distraction from the business of running the country.

As if the wild allegations of missing money were not enough, we are then treated to the current matter of private jet use by the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Let’s look at this objectively, Firstly, there is a distinction between private and chartered jets. The first being one owned by a private individual or privately-owned company for the exclusive use of the owner, and the second being a jet available for charter by individuals or corporations as the need arises.

Under the second category of Chartered Jet usage, the trend across the globe has been for large and even medium-sized corporations, to outsource their aviation departments to specialist providers in order to reduce costs and indeed capital outlay associated with the purchase of aircraft.

Businesses across the globe have chosen to outsource the non-critical parts of their operations to specialist providers. This has resulted in innovative ways to procure the use of Jets to fit in with the particular needs of the business. Flexible contracts exist to mix and match usage to any particular requirements.

As an oil and gas industry practitioner, I know for sure that the total cost of ownership is very high. Maintenance cost alone was as high as $4m a year for one aircraft. At a point, my company needed two aircraft to provide a higher availability factor. So, maintenance was about $8m a year. Besides, the cost of spares keeps skyrocketing. We needed to take on a lot of risks which are better managed by airline operator’s e.g. safety, insurance and overall professionalism of the crew.

Going for a lease provided a higher availability at low cost as operators have a pool from which backup support is provided when needed. Cost of the leased service is about 40% less than own fleet. Because of footprint of operations, most oil companies in the country use private jet service to cut down on executive lost times waiting at airports.

For the NNPC and the Petroleum Ministry, the footprint is even higher. To meet the logistical challenges of providing effective oversight certainly calls for more flexible mode of transportation. For instance, an inspection tour by the GMD or Petroleum Minister could transverse many states and cities which is virtually impossible to accomplish on regular commercial flights.

In all, the efficiency argument for leased jet cannot be faulted by any right thinking person except of course if the thoughts are politically induced.

In Nigeria, the trend has over the last 4-5 years increased to the point where people across all facets of government, the executive, legislative and all other arms of government avail themselves of the use of these services. Indeed, private organisations, churches and individuals own planes. Anyone with the resources can pitch up and hire a jet at any given time. It is not so long ago that all the political parties were criss-crossing the nation’s airspace in various airplanes. Is this a case of “it’s ok for everyone else, except the Minister of Petroleum Resources?”

One can only at this moment conjecture at the next wave of attacks. Will it be the minister’s mother, perhaps, or her children, or husband?  Where exactly will it end?