Reps Probe petroleum minister for N10billion private jet expenses

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a resolution to probe the expenditures of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, on a private jet she allegedly charters for private use and maintains with public funds.

According to the sponsor of the bill, Hon Samuel Adejare who represents Lagos State, the minister maintains the jet with 500,000euros or N130 million monthly

"Thus, in the last two years, the minister has committed at least N3.120bn to maintaining the private jet, which is used solely for her personal needs and those of her immediate family, which is an appalling act"he said. He said the frequent use of the Jet by the Minister and her family members has caused an estimated N10billion to be spent on it for maintenance, fuel, payment of crew members, hanger rentage and others.

In a unanimous vote, the house members adopted the resolution and mandated its committee on Public Accounts to investigate the matter and provide results within 3weeks.

In a related development, a member of the House, Hon Aminu Suleiman through a motion he presented to the house, revealed that the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas NLNG had not remitted any of its generated revenue to the federation account since 2004 till date. The house committee on Natural Gas was directed to investigate the claims by Hon Aminu.