Nigerians are paying for Jonathan's sins - Minister reacts to fuel scarcity

dimeji akinloye

December 21, 2015 9:21 PM

He said that ongoing fuel crisis is not because there is no petroleum product in the country, but distribution problem.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has blamed the lingering fuel scarcity in the country on the Goodluck Jonathan administration, saying it failed to make provision for fuel subsidy as far back as August 2014.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Dec. 21, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, Mohammed said Nigerians are paying for the sins of the Jonathan government.

He said that the ongoing fuel crisis is not because there is no petroleum product in the country, but distribution problem.

READ: ‘You should be ashamed,’ Lai Mohammed tells Ekweremadu, PDP

He said: “What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration. I am being very serious. You remember that about two weeks ago, we had to go to the National Assembly for a supplementary budget of N674 billion.

“Of that figure, N522 billion was for arrears of fuel subsidy which was incurred as far back as August last year. One of the reasons for the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last government to make adequate provision for fuel subsidy.

“We do face some other logistic problems but majorly we are paying for the sins of the last administration.”

He briefed newsmen in the company of Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma.

dimeji akinloye