Fuel Scarcity: President Jonathan orders payment of outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers

With the debilitating fuel scarcity taking its toll on Nigerians nationwide, President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a directive to the Ministry of Finance to pay with immediate effect all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.

This came as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday expressed outrage at the energy crisis, and blamed Jonathan and past Nigerian leaders for failing to fix the refineries.

However, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, rejected claims that the long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers, stating that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has issued N100 billion in Sovereign Debt Notes (SDNs) out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed upon with marketers as the next payment due to them.

She added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also given approval to the banks to open letters of credit (LCs) for oil marketers to facilitate the importation of petroleum products.

Credit: Channels