The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said rapacious wealthy persons who he dubbed, “fat cats” were those benefiting from the oil subsidy regime when in force.
Mohammed asserted this in a meeting with online publishers in Lagos.
The minister said for years the ordinary Nigerians were at the receiving end of the fraud that took place with the subsidy and perpetrated by fraudulent big shots.
“Ordinary citizens are not the beneficiaries of the subsidy on petroleum products that have lasted for years. Between 2006 and 2019, a total of N10.4tn was spent on fuel subsidy, most of which went to fat cats who either collected subsidy for products they didn’t import or diverted the products to neighbouring countries, where prices are much higher,” he said.
