Finance Minister Ngozi Iweala Vow not to pay Oil Importers

  

As the battle between oil importers and the government continues, the coordinating Minister of Finance and Economy has vow not to pay oil importers a new subsidy claim of N159 billion exchange rate differentials which she deem as a suspicious claim.


She told reporters that she won't approve any payment unless verified by relevant authorities
 “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,” she said.
”Marketers just want to make Nigerians suffer,” she added.
 “They are making a lot of money from black market activities, people should rise up against the blackmail of oil marketers.
“I will not pay the N159 billion without verification, Nigerians should not allow themselves to be blackmailed.”
 “I cannot say that the problem is due to not paying marketers, the process of paying marketers is always a rolling process and there has never been a time government reduced its financial obligation to marketers to zero.
“In a year where so much effort has been made to pay marketers including prioritizing their payment as subsidy claims in favour of other financial obligation like paying contractors, yet fuel scarcity still persists at this  particular point in time suggests that something suspicious is happening.”she said