by Stanley Azuakola

Nigerians, especially residents of the nation’s capital Abuja, woke up on Wednesday to the realization that fuel had become scarce. Valuable man-hours were lost as queues returned to the petrol filling stations.

Everyone took notice, and the Federal government realized that it had some explaining to do. So explain they did, as narrated by the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama: the fuel scarcity currently being experienced is not real. It is a deliberate ploy by the petrol marketers indicted in the subsidy scam to arm-twist government and collect more money.

Read: The real subsidy scam exposed by Aig-Imokhuede

Fuel marketers had earlier warned that if the government does not fulfil its obligations to them and pay up its debts, they would seize supply of products.

Ngama however said that no matter what they try, the government would not succumb to their blackmail.

The minister dismissed allegations that government owed marketers subsidy payments, saying that all genuine marketers whose claims have been verified by the appropriate authorities, have been paid. Only those recommended for further investigation by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential Committee have not been paid, as the next course of action regarding them would be determined by the outcome of the investigations.

He said:

 “Between April and May 2012, Batches D/12 and E/12 involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of N17 billion were fully settled through the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes and other relevant documentation,” the minister said.

“In addition, since the directive by the Coordinating Minister to the DMO to continue payments of all verified claims, N25.6 billion worth of claims has been fully settled with the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes.

“Against this background, it is clear that the strike was instigated mainly by marketers who were indicted by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee which investigated fuel subsidy payments,” the minister said.

Ngama advised them to desist from their acts, as the government would not succumb, under any circumstance, to blackmail.