Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu allegedly spent over
\nN182million on a chattered flight to China for a three-day roadshow in the
\nAsian country to attract investments to Nigeria\u2019s oil and gas sector, an
\nangry member of his entourage told pointblanknews.com.<\/p>\n
The source, who does not want to be named, described the Petroleum
\nMinister as \u201cextravagant, lavish and too flambouyant for Buhari\u2019s
\nanti-corruption Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com investigation shows that a one way chartered flight
\nfrom Lagos to Beijing cost about $316,000.00 (N115m) With the roundtrip
\naccording to PrivateFly an airline charter company that flies that route
\nestimated at $500,000.00.<\/p>\n
Sources confirmed that since becoming the minister of state for Petroleum,
\nKachikwu has not flown any commercial airlines both for local and foreign
\ntrips.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is worrisome that Kachikwu like the former minister of petroleum
\nresources Diezani Alison-Madueke has been flying in chartered private jets
\nsince assumption of office,\u201d a source told Pointblanknews.com<\/p>\n
“The country is not happy. Too much money was spent on one man’s travels.
\nThat money could have been spent improving the lives of the people. It
\nfeels like he is spitting in our face, another source in the know said.<\/p>\n
A source told Pointblanknews.com that Kachikwu late last year built a
\nHelipad in his expansive country home in Onicha Ugbo and flew on a chopper
\nfrom his home on Christmas day to the Asaba airport; a journey of less
\nthan 15 minutes\u2019 drive.<\/p>\n
On a recent official visit to the United Arab Emirate, the flamboyant
\nminister insists in staying at the Burj Al Arab hotel, “the world’s only
\nseven-star hotel\u201d, based in Dubai. The hotel stands on an artificial
\nisland on top of water and the cheapest room cost about N1.2M per night.<\/p>\n
Kachikwu who has two wives has also approved Special Advisers for them in
\naddition to dozens of Special Advisers he has employed while his brother,
\nDumebi Kachikwu who was indicted in the iGate Scandal in U.S, has an
\noffice space in Asokoro which serves as a clearing house for shady oil
\ndeals for the Minister.<\/p>\n
The two advisers to his wives are paid from the Ministry of Petroleum,
\naccording to an insider source who wants to remain anonymous.
\nChecks at the NNPC towers indicate that he also has a staff for the
\npurpose of bringing his breakfast and lunch.<\/p>\n
Although sources say the Minister has always insisted that his extravagant
\nlifestyle is funded by International Oil Companies, IOC\u2019s in Nigeria,
\npointblanknews.com could not confirm that.<\/p>\n
The lifestyle of Kachikwu reflect the tragedy of resource-rich African
\ncountries where the leaders spend millions on luxury items, as the
\nordinary people live in abject poverty, lacking access to basic amenities
\nand services such as clean drinking water, health care and education.<\/p>\n
Only recently, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun had painted a
\ngloomy picture of the economy when she appeared before the Senate, saying
\nthe country was at the moment in tough place and in recession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu allegedly spent over N182million on a chattered flight to China for a three-day roadshow in the Asian country to attract investments to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n