The Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday refuted media reports which allege that her ministry is blocking subsidy payments to verified marketers.
Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said that the ministry of finance made the N161.6 billion supplementary budget for subsidy payments which had been approved by the National Assembly available to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since 31 December 2012.
“As at 31st of December the Ministry of Finance had approved for this money to be available in the Central Bank accounts, where they can be accessed by the marketers,” she said.
The Minister said the payments are presently going through the CBN processes which include the conversion of the dollar equivalent from the excess crude account and will be concluded soon.
She also confirmed that payments totalling N94 billion have been verified for 23 marketers who will be paid in the next few days.
