FG to pay marketers this week as Senate approves extra budget

The Federal Government  yesterday assured fuel marketers in the country that they would get part of the   N413billion it approved  for them this week..

Speaking at the official inspection of depots  in Lagos yesterday, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Emmanuel Ibe  Kachikwu, said the National Assembly has given its blessing to the part-payment of the subsidy to the marketers.

“We are hopeful that this week their money will be paid because we have released the Sovereign Debt Note (SDN) and once that has been released with the support of the NASS that means its has been assured”. “We are also working towards paying the foreign exchage differentials to marketers to ensure smooth flow of petroleum product in the country” he added.

This comes as The Guardian reports that the Senate yesterday passed N574,532,726,857 billion as the 2015 supplementary budget. It is N108,895,800,000 billion higher than the N465,636,926,857 billion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly for approval two weeks ago.

While passing the extra budget, the Senate explained that the addition was to make it possible for government to pay subsidy ‎claims for the three months of October, November and December which were not originally accommodated in the initial N413, 363, 134, 505 billion voted for the payment of subsidy claims.

At the end of the session yesterday, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, urged Nigerians to rise in support of government in putting an end to subsidy just as he directed all relevant Senate Committees to work out appropriate legislative measures to assist in achieving subsidy removal.