Fuel Scarcity: FG Promises to Pay Marketers N156 Billion Today

Due to the fuel scarcity situation in most parts of the country, the federal government on Wednesday promised to pay oil marketers N156 billion as arrears of their subsidy claims. Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the payment would be made today. She gave the assurance while speaking to newsmen in Abuja, after declaring open the 20th conference of Directors General of Customs of the World Customs Organisation.

She said:

“On the issue of oil marketers, we have really been working with them and we have been dialoguing with them all along. We paid N350bn in December and we paid them N31 billion in foreign exchange differentials; and by tomorrow (Thursday), we will be paying them N100 billion for which we had earlier given them IOUs as well as their interest rate differentials of N56 billion.

So, I am about to go and sign to get that paid and I think that Nigerians can see that the government is making maximum efforts to accommodate the oil marketers. They are also Nigerians and they need to also cooperate with us.

As I leave here, I am going to sign for them to get another N156 billion; N100 billion in the IOUs, which is due tomorrow, and N56 billion in interest rate differentials.”

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