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Finance Minister Accused of Under Budgeting for 2013 Subsidy

By on December 13, 2012

A Petrol Station Attendant Dispensing Fuel

Oil marketers have accused the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of deceit, adding that the minister told them that the N888bn used to pay subsidy on fuel would be adequate.

The oil marketers said they had earlier complained that the government’s provision for fuel subsidy for the year was inadequate.

“We have said it continuously in the past that the N888bn fuel subsidy budget for 2012 was inadequate but the finance minister has been proving stubborn and deceiving Nigerians that the amount would be enough.

“We have been in this business for a long time and we know what the trends are. I am happy that our position has been justified,” Secretary of the oil marketers association, Mr. Enoch Kenawa, told one of our correspondents in Abuja.

Kenawa urged the National Assembly to approve the President’s request for additional funding of subsidy payment immediately, saying the approval will be the answer to fuel circulation during this period.

He said, “We are calling on the National Assembly to quickly pass request of the President so that supply of products can increase.

“Once the money is approved, Nigerians are assured of a good holiday period to ensure adequate supply of fuel during Christmas.”

Jonathan on Tuesday wrote to the National Assembly requesting the approval of extra N161bn to make up for arrears of subsidy claims and ensure payments until December 31.

In his letter, the President informed the assembly that the government had until now exhausted N881bn to pay subsidy this year.

Although Okonjo-Iweala had on October 21, said that there would not be an extra requisition for petroleum subsidy payments.

According to her, the N888bn to be paid for subsidy payments in the 2012 financial plan should be sufficient to pay petroleum product importers.

She said that the available money was enough to pay the subsidy bills for this year.

“We have not exhausted the fund and there may not be a need for a supplementary budget,” Okonjo-Iweala had said.

According to the oil marketers’secretary the N917bn budgeted for fuel subsidy in 2013 would not guarantee enough supply of fuel next year.

He said, “N917bn will not be adequate because the government wants to put Nigerians in double jeopardy. They said they are subsidising fuel yet people can’t see fuel to buy and where they have fuel, people still pay very high to get this product.

“The N971bn for fuel subsidy will not be adequate. At 35 million litres of fuel per day, the money can’t be enough. If they want to remove subsidy let them remove it instead of what they are doing right now. Based on the demand, the amount that would be reasonable for fuel subsidy in 2013 should be between N1.2tn and N1.5tn.”

For the time being, the House of Representatives on Wednesday suspended debate on the extra N161.6bn demand by the President Goodluck Jonathan to fund fuel subsidy.

The speaker halted the debate and rescheduled it, saying the members needed to be briefed by some House committees to debate properly the request for additional funding by Jonathan to pay subsidy.

Tambuwal said there was need for the House committees on Finance, Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Petroleum Resources, (Downstream); and Appropriation to brief members on the particulars of the extra budget.