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Okonjo Iweala: I will not pay N159 billion subsidy without verification

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Nigeria’s minister of finance and economy, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala says she will noy pay oil marketers the amount they demand for because it is fraudulent and unverified.

Mrs. Iweala said this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, May 23.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has vowed not to pay oil marketers their subsidy claims, accusing them of presenting fraudulent claims with various exchange rates.
“Marketers were asking for N159 billion for exchange rate differentials from the outstanding N200 billion.
There has been so much fraud and scam so I have refused to sign for that money but have agreed that a committee be set up involving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to verify marketers’ claims. Marketers just want to make Nigerians suffer. I will not pay the N159 billion without verification, Nigerians should not allow themselves to be blackmailed. I will not pay the N159 billion without verification, Nigerians should not allow themselves to be blackmailed” she said

You have to verify the claims of the marketers before they are paid, and because the government is coming to an end, they are getting quite nervous,” she said.

“They are pushing very hard and they are using this shortage as an instrument to try to get the existing government to pay them quickly, without going through the thorough verification, and we are not going to do that.”

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