If there is one lady that has been in the news for controversial issues on several occasions, it is Diezani Allison-Madueke, the current Minister of Petroleum Resources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A position she has held since 2010. Based on this and other such high profile executive positions she has held in the country, she is described as one of the most powerful women in Nigeria along with Okonjo Iweala, her counterpart, who seems to hold the purse strings of the nation in her capacity as Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy.
In September 2008, a year after her first appointment into an executive position within the government of the day, there was a failed attempt to kidnap her. In 2009, she was indicted by the senate and recommended for prosecution for alleged transfer of N1.2 billion into the private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement, but till date the allegations have not been proven, hence they remain in the realm of ‘allegations’. In her official capacity as Minster of Petroleum Resources, Diezani introduced a very controversial policy aimed at removing subsidies on petrol in the country. This caused a great uproar in the country, with heated arguments raging between the federal government and the populace. Her argument in support of the removal was on the grounds that ‘it poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy and encourages inefficiency, corruption and diversion of scarce public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure”. Today her position on the subsidy removal remains not only the same but one which is now globally acclaimed as one of the boldest policy step ever undertaken by a minister. In May 2013, she was interrogated on an allegation of a ‘shady deal’, estimated at N9 trillion. The House of Representatives mandated an ad-hoc committee to investigate her in respect of the deal. In another development, she admitted before the Senate Committee on Finance that she spent the sum of N3.5 billion on kerosene subsidy without appropriation. This was another heated period in her life and also her office, but somehow she manages to come out of it all.
Diezani is obviously powerful taking into consideration her office but she is modest.
A rare, high-profile woman in many ways; she is no stranger to government appointments; prior to her appointment as Minister of Petroleum Resources, she was Minister of Mines and Steel Development from 2008 to 2010 and Minister of Transportation in 2007.
A graduate of architecture from Howard University, Washington DC, Diezani started her working career at Charles Szoradi Architects, and moved on to American Interior Builders Inc. as project engineer, both in Washington D.C. She later joined Furman Construction Management Inc. Rockville, Maryland as design coordinator returning to Howard University as an in-house project manager and a member of the planning and development team responsible for the design and implimentation of a comprehensive master building and renovation plan for the university.
According to Diezani, she started her training in England, and later moved to the US where she did her degree in architecture. “After a while, I did not feel professionally challenged enough with the drawing side of architecture, so I moved into construction management and then on to facilities maintenance and management. I ended up working for my Alma Mata, Howard University and it was while there, that it was suggested to me that Shell in Nigeria could do with my sort of expertise in facilities and maintenance management in particular. “
She was encouraged to apply, which she did. She was employed into the estates area of operations in the Lagos office of Shell. This was in 1992, and she was in that office until 1997, but switched jobs with increasing responsibilities, pretty much all the civil infrastructures in Lagos, Abuja and Jos. She also acted as an architectural consultant on various projects in the eastern and western divisions of Shell.
Diezani comes across as a hands-on person who throws herself fully into whatever she is involved in, hear her, “ whatever I apply myself to; it is with a vision that I may be remembered as one woman, who worked hard to bring a better life to the greatest number of people and communities of our country as possible, in a way that they have never been impacted before”.
A look at Diezani’s CV, one is almost overwhelmed with the plethora of achievements, such that Diezani can be accused of over achievement if that is possible. Her attention to details got her transferred within the Shell Company, from Head Civil Infrastructures, she found herself in external affairs; “the newly created corporate issues and crisis management unit had just evolved in the Shell Group worldwide, especially here in Nigeria given the Ken Saro Wiwa incident and similar challenges that involved the image of the company. I became the head of the unit, so I developed the first ranked list of priority issues; reputation issues and such. I did this from 1997 to 2002 and then left for Cambridge University for my MBA, using the prestigious Chevening Scholarship I had been awarded four years earlier by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council”.
That period was a sabbatical for Diezani as she returned later to Shell Nigeria and moved into the joint venture department, which handled the various joint venture partners, the largest of which of course is NNPC. “Shell operates the largest joint venture with the Nigerian government, NNPC. Total and Agip are also joint partners. Again my brief was to head a new unit of shell here as Head, Strategy and Planning of the joint ventures”.
Diezani made history in 2004 when she became the Lead Joint Ventures Representation Adviser and key facilitator of all the major approvals initiated from the various joint ventures and line departments of Shell. “It was from that job that in early 2006, I was informed that the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation had appointed me to become the first female Executive Director in the history of the company in Nigeria”.
Another epoch making event in her life was when she was awarded a honourary doctorate degree award in Management Sciences from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, making her the first female to be so honoured.
Diezani is not adverse to family life as she has one replete with husband and six children, so is in tune with all the ups and downs of having a functional family. “I suppose I am still one of those women who feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman excelling in corporate and public service and yet should ensure she does her best to excel as a wife and mother. In our culture, it would be foolhardy for any woman to set out to excel in service at the total expense of her family. One must balance the two. When I mentor younger women, I teach them that the higher you rise the more homely you should become. There are times I would actually come home after a few days trip around, and spend the entire weekend to cook various dishes to be frozen down for my husband during the course of the week so that he can enjoy my home -cooked meals as much as possible”.
She says she expects women to try and make their homes very inviting and a comfortable haven for their husbands and children to return to daily, no matter what it takes, otherwise their personal success as women will not be complete.
Mabel Dimma
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