The Federal Government and Independent oil marketers, yesterday in Abuja, disagreed over the outstanding subsidy payment due to the marketers for the period spanning 2016 and 2017.
The disagreement occurred during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), the independent oil marketers and some relevant government agencies involved in the subsidy payment.
In her presentation before the Senate Committee, the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Mrs Patience Oniha, said that the initial subsidy claims by the oil marketers amounted to N650 billion but was reviewed downward to N429 billion and later to N386 billion by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
She, however, told the Committee that one of the conditions for payment of the subsidy claims was the appointment of an international audit firm, which would do a review of the figures claimed by the marketers.
The DMO boss also said that the payment would not be made in cash but in promissory note, stating that it would enable the Federal Government to know its total liabilities and for the oil marketers to know that they were holding government instrument, which the banks would accept rather than waiting for when to be paid cash. Read more