NNPC: No rift between Diezani, Yakubu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the Minister of Petroleum Resources and chairman of NNPC board, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Engr. Andrew Yakubu, are working harmoniously to develop the petroleum sector.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, who stated this, dismissed the rumours of a frosty relationship between the two key figures in the oil and gas industry as baseless and a figment of the imagination of the authors.

Alegbe said the minister and the NNPC have in the last few months responded to several calls from the National Assembly, wondering why the media would report that the minister is making effort to thwart the proposed investigation into the alleged N10 billion purportedly expended on some chartered jets by the corporation.

The NNPC spokesman said the minister and the corporation were putting together all the documents that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Account has requested for, stressing that at the end of the probe, the minister and the corporation would be vindicated.

Meanwhile, the minister has approved the allocation of 1, 854, 314 metric tonnes of petrol as supplementary volumes for first and second quarters of 2014 delivery to ensure round the clock availability of the product across the country.