Okonjo-Iweala talks tough: "We will not pay fraudulent marketers"

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday descended heavily on indicted oil marketers accusing them of masterminding the kidnap of her octogenarian mother, Prof. Kamene Okonjo. Although the minister declined to mention names of the suspected marketers, she threatened that the government will not pay marketers whose transactions are proven to be fraudulent.

“I just want to clarify that in the case of payment for oil subsidy money, we have been paying marketers who have been verified by Aig Imoukhuede Committee that their transactions are clean,” she said.

“We have done that and will continue to do that. For marketers whose transactions are proven to be fraudulent, the position of the Jonathan government is also clear: we cannot and we will not pay. We will not back down on this. We will continue to stand firm. I think this is what Nigerians want.”
“They also said I had blocked payment of money to certain components of the SURE-P programme,” the minister added.


The minister siad that “Nigerians want that only honest people who have been doing transactions are paid and we have been doing that. Those transactions that have not been verified, or where it is showing that the marketers are owing government money, the government position is that we would not be able to pay.”

Okonjo-Iweala lamented the ordeal the kidnappers put her mother through saying "Apart from the emotional trauma of being violently taken away from her family and kept incommunicado for five days in a strange environment, a woman of 83 years was left without food for five days,”

“While she was in their custody, the kidnappers spent much of the time harassing her. They told her that I must get on the radio and television and announce my resignation. When she asked why, they told her it was because I did not pay “Oil subsidy money”.

On the SURE-P programme, the minister said it follows a totally different process that is beyond the control of her office, adding that “with the special committee set up, they do not come via the normal Ministry of Finance. It goes through other processes over which I do not have control,”

Elaborating on her mother’s five-day ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala described her as “a very courageous woman that God was with”.

“Let me tell you that she suffered a great deal. So when I say that God has performed a miracle, you can understand what I mean. She was taken away and kept for five days without food or water and for an 83-year old woman it’s a miracle.

“She came back to us and she is alive and doing well. My father, the Obi of Ogwashi Uku, Professor Okonjo and my mother want to use this medium to express their sincere thanks to Nigerians and gratitude to Almighty God that she came out of this ordeal.

“While she was there, she kept asking what the kidnap was all about, and they told her that her daughter did not pay oil subsidy money and was also blocking payment of certain parts of the SURE-Programme. Those were the two things that were said,” the minister stated.