Diezani K. Alison-Madueke was born 6 December, 1960 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Her father was Chief Frederick Abiye Agama. She studied architecture in England and then at Howard University in the United States. She graduated from Howard with a Bachelor’s degree on 8 December 1992. She returned to Nigeria and joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation that year. In 2002, she attended Cambridge University for her MBA.

Since 1999 she has been married to Admiral Allison Madueke (retired), one-time Chief of Naval Staff who was at various times governor of Imo and Anambra State. She has two sons, Chimezie Madueke and Ugonna Madueke. In September 2011 Alison-Madueke was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree in Management Sciences by the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.

Diezani Alison-Madueke has held three significant positions in the Nigerian federal government. She was appointed Transport Minister in July 2007. On 23 December 2008, she was named as Minister of Mines and Steel Development. After Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan became acting President in February 2010, he dissolved the cabinet on 17 March 2010, and swore in a new cabinet on 6 April 2010 with Alison-Madueke as Minister for Petroleum Resources

As Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alison-Madueke has pledged to transform Nigeria’s oil and gas industry so that all Nigerians benefit.

In April 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Nigerian Content Act, which aims to increase the percentage of petroleum industry contracts that are awarded to indigenous Nigerian businesses – a reaction to the domination of the sector by foreign operators.

One of the most controversial policies introduced under Alison-Madueke is the government’s plan to remove state subsidies on fuel prices. Alison-Madueke has supported the discontinuation of the subsidy 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

She is the first woman to hold the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria, and in October 2010 she became the first woman to head a country delegation at the annual OPEC conference. She was also the first female Minister of Transportation, and the first woman to be appointed to the board of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria. On the 27th of November, 2014 she got elected as the first female President of OPEC.