Ngozi Okonjo Iweala
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has decried the N232bn ($1.5bn) overpayments made to “fraudulent” oil marketers.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, made the plan known at the meeting of the National Council of Finance and Economic Development in Minna, Niger State.
She said in 2006, the total petroleum subsidies paid to oil marketing firms amounted to N256bn (about $1.6bn) and by 2011, the bill had risen sharply to nearly N2.10tn.
The minister said there were cases where some firms submitted payment invoices for fuel deliveries in Nigeria when their stated cargo ships were actually berthed elsewhere in South America on the same dates.
She said the subsidised prices for petroleum products consumed domestically also created arbitrage opportunities and resulted in widespread smuggling to neighbouring countries.
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