Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday denied media reports claiming that the Federal Ministry of Finance has been preventing verified payments to marketers.
She instead disclosed that the Finance Ministry made available to the Central Bank of Nigeria since December 31, 2012, the N161.6bn supplementary budget for subsidy payments, which had been approved by the National Assembly.
“The payments are presently going through the CBN’s processes which include the conversion of the dollar equivalent from the Excess Crude Account and will be concluded soon,” Paul C Nwabuikwu, the special adviser to the coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance stated in a release sent to Huhuonline.com on Tuesday.
“Payments totalling N94bn have been verified for 23 marketers who will be paid in the next few days.”
The statement further assured the commitment of the Finance Ministry to paying all companies who deserve to get subsidy payments. It also reiterated the Ministry stance on refusing to pay undeserving firms, as that is its mandate from the Presiden Goodluck Jonathan.
