Federal Government said yesterday that it is withholding N29 billion claims by some oil marketers as subsidy payment pending the outcome of the investigation by the economic and Financial Crime Commission on the issue.
The Minister of Finance Dr. Okonjo-Iweala told newsmen in Abuja that the Presidential committee on subsidy claims headed by the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has submitted its report and uncovered NN232.2 billion claims that cannot be substantiated.
Marketers have made over N1 trillion subsidy claims, prompting government to set committees to verify the claims.
In January, Federal Government announced total removal of subsidy and raised fuel pump to N141 per litre. After protest by Nigerians and civil society, government reversed and reduced pump price to N97 per litre.
"Let me make one point to clarify where we are. As you saw in the paper last week, the committee has finished its verification and as at now what they have seen as dubious claims is about N232.2 billion," the minister said.
She said they verified claims worth about N1 trillion and N232 billion is what has been seen as claims that cannot be substantiated.
The minister said: "They have done their final bit of work and they have handed it over to committee members. Whenever they verified we make payments. I am happy to say that we would also make payments now that the final verification is done.
"We are preparing to make payment in December so that there will be no queue due to non payments of marketers. We are working on it based on this final report. We are also working to see how much of this N232 billion can be ploughed back.
"If they are claims that have not been verified, it means they need to be paid back to the federal government. I believe that we have managed to hold back some of these payments now pending anything that comes out from the EFCC.
The N29 billion out of this N232 billion are people who say the federal government owes them. We say we cannot pay them when we have this fraudulent allegation against them. Unless the EFCC comes out to say there is no criminal action, this is the money that would be recovered to the state."
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The title of this article is both misleading and deceptive. Witholding of payment pending an investigation to authenticate and legitimize a claim is not the same thing as recovering N29-Billion Naira owed the Federal coffers. What if, after the investigation it turns out that these fees are actually due the scam-ridden marketeers, or what if these marketeers agree to kicking back a portion thereof, to the people investigating them, since this is the unfortunate order of business in Nigeria; would the Finance Minister herself then conclude that these funds are still owed the Federal Government? You see, the degree of corruption in Nigeria is so deeply ingrained in our psyche that the scammers even know that they would not be prosecuted. These people can buy judges, the president, the Attorney-General of the nation, the Accountant-General of the nation, the Auditor-General of the nation, and any other person in authority that may have been compromised, or would render their judgement of the situation to the highest bidder. Nigeria is not the kind of environment where honesty and integrity means anything, nor are such qualities remotely contemplated by those in the public service........the president included. Now that the president has opted to chair the procurement board, could it be because he realises that this entity if the bedrock of corruption in terms of evaluating the qualities of those who happen to procure contracts for the re-building of our infrastructure? On one hand, this may be a good thing; but, on the other hand, is the president morally sound to withstand the temptations of "payola" from contractors whose main objective is to obtain the contract and end up doing nothing for those obligations which are necessary for up-grading our infrastructure? It's like Gen. Obasanjo as Nigeria's President, holding while in office the portfolio for the Petroleum Minister.........meaning that for every Crude Oil Contract, he had to be paid off, both up-front and in subsequent liftings of every barrel of crude oil from Nigeria. To the oil trader, it wouldn't matter to them at all because the cost of payola is eventually passed on to the Nigerian consumer when we order for finished products from petroleum overseas. Whereas these so-called leaders are unmindful of the serious implications surrounding their wanton greed, they fail to realise that at every corner they turn, Nigerians in general are bled to death because of their corrupt practices. Frankly, none of these blind leaders have the interest of Nigerians at heart, as long as they are prepared to stuff their foreign bank accounts with petro-dollars which could've been used to help the massive poor in Nigeria. Yet, these blind leaders ply our poorly maintained roads on a daily basis. When these fools visit Europe or America, they are amazed how well-maintained the infrastructure in these faraway places are, and are not ashamed to take credit that at some point when they ruled, they contributed to the calamities which the country faces today. For a country where even Civil Servants would demand a whopping $25,000.00 USD just to write a simple letter leading to the purchase of badly needed equipments by the government, it is no wonder that the only set of business characters who can opt to do business with Nigeria would be those who have no real interest in Nigeria's development, or even help her identify with the 21st Century's technological age. Greed is killing Nigeria. No other country in the world would allow worker's pension funds to be raided by civil service thieves in high places. Because the public knows that the government would do little to protect their pensions and may not look forward to retirements, the most they can do while in office is to engage in corrput practices in order to make room for a rainy day. That is why the demands for a $25,000.00 pay off, though may sound unreasonable in the eye of the West, but realistically, these people are merely seeking ways to stay afloat in retirement years. This has also accounted for why well positioned civil servants have difficulty retiring from the Civil Service, and that is why many young Nigerian youths with University education cannot find jobs, unless one has what we call "long legs" in the civil service.(For those who may wonder what this implies, it simply means a euphemism for nepotism, tribalism, cronyism, godfatherism and any other "ism" one may wish to add to the list). Nigeria is truly a place where mediocrity thrives, while meritocracy suffers.