The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Oknjo-Iweala yesterday dismissed as false, the alleged missing of N500 billion belonging to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P.
The minister, who appeared before the Senate Committee on SURE-P to clarify issues relating to the administration of the fund, told the lawmakers that the said N500 billion represents the states and Local Governments’ share of the fund. “As far as I am aware, there is no missing SUREP money.
These resources are not going to any other source, it is meant to mitigate the suffering of Nigerians and that is what it is doing,” Okonjo-Iweala said. She disclosed that the sum of N800 billion is the projected revenue from fuel subsidy from February 2012 to December 2013.
She noted that out of the amount, Federal Government’s share is N300 billion, while the remaining N500 billion is for states and local governments. According to the minister, it is the N500 billion that the lawmakers are alleging to be missing.
She said: “We realise about N816 billion from fuel subsidy from February 2012 to December 2013. The Federal Government’s share of the money is N300 billion and the balance of N500 billion is not missing but has gone to the states and local governments.
“We use the same sharing formula and criteria for the federation account for the sharing of the fuel subsidy revenue.” The minister maintained that she was not better placed to account for the utilisation of the funds and insisted that the best person to explain how the funds are being utilise is the chairman of the SURE-P.
Source: National Mirror
