N94b Oil Subsidy Windfall For 23 Oil Marketers This Week

TWENTY-THREE oil marketers are to be paid N94 billion, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said yesterday. The cash is part of the N161 billion approved by the National Assembly.

The 23 oil marketers will be paid ”in the next few days.”

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, said the government was “committed to paying all companies which deserve to get subsidy payments just as we will not pay undeserving firms.”

For the balance however, the government is “waiting for the others to come and complete their paper work to complete their balance. That is the mandate we have from the President.” Dr Okonjo-Iweala said.

She said payment was being carried out according to transactions, so some marketers (23) that have cleared their paper work on some of their transactions would be paid from the N94 billion.

However, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala noted that they may come back again with additional transactions, “but as of now, 23 marketers have done their paper work.They may still have outstanding claims because we do them in batches through the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Debt Management Office (DMO).

“I have a list of 27 marketers for the remainder of the money, but some of them have already featured under this 23 and they may have to come back,” she said.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala stated that her ministry has made the N161.6 billion supplementary budget for subsidy payments which has been approved by the National Assembly and made available to the Central Bank of Nigeria since December 31, 2012, adding that the payments “are presently going through the CBN’s processes which include the conversion of the dollar equivalent from the foreign Excess Crude Account to the domestic Excess Crude Account, and that will be concluded soon.

“We have to authenticate the amount and this process normally takes five days and a week between the CBN and the ministry.The Central Bank is very strict by trying to have all the documentation,” she added.

“The process is on, the money has been released and is being converted into naira by the CBN and I don’t think there is any issue with this.”

At present, the money, she explained,“is being credited to the account now by the Accountant- General of the Federation. The conversion is being done and marketers who said they have not been able to access should go now to get their money. It is not something that takes months,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said.