[5] She was moved to Mines and Steel Development in 2008,[6] and in April 2010 was appointed as the first female Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria.

Alison-Madueke supported the discontinuation of the subsidy "because 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.

[21][22] On working in male-dominated sectors, Alison-Madueke said she advised the young women she mentored while at Shell to "change their mode of thinking.

"[23] A PBS NewsHour segment quoted American and British officials saying that former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke might personally have organized a diversion of $28 billion from the Nigerian treasury.

A former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi, made the comment again during a PBS interview on 2 December 2015.

[25][26] Sanusi believes he was fired from the Central Bank of Nigeria because he went public with charges that $20 billion was missing from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under Alison-Madueke's management.

[29][33] In October 2009, the Senate of Nigeria indicted Diezani Alison-Madueke and recommended prosecution for the transfer of N1.2 billion naira into the private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement.

[35][36][37] On 2 October 2015, Reuters reported that Alison-Madueke had been arrested by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) in London, along with four other people on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences.

[40][41][42][43][44] Also in Nigeria, her home in Asokoro, Abuja was raided and sealed by anti-corruption agents of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, a few hours after her alleged arrest in London.

[38][45] On 28 August 2017, a Nigerian federal court seized 7.6 billion naira ($21 million) from bank accounts linked to Alison-Madueke.

[52] In 1999, Diezani married Allison Madueke one-time Chief of Naval Staff who was at various times governor of Imo and Anambra States.

[54] In September 2011, Alison-Madueke was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree in Management Sciences by the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.