The N521bn approved by the National Assembly for subsidy payment to oil marketers will cover for the rest of the year, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.
Mohammed, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, also declared that the current fuel crisis in the country would be over in a matter of days, adding that the vehicular queues at filling stations across the country would be a thing of the past.
He said, “We can confidently announce here today that the scarcity will end in a few days. Subsidy payment till the end of the year has been approved by the National Assembly.
“As you know, we can’t spend money without approval. We can assure you that we won’t be caught in this kind of situation again.”
The minister explained that the N521bn that had been approved by the National Assembly as part of the supplementary budget of N574.4bn would be enough to cover the fuel subsidy till the end of this year.
In another development, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright, has said that one of the objectives of his home government this year was to reduce the number of United Kingdom citizens and businesses falling victim to cybercrimes originating in Nigeria.
The envoy spoke at a workshop on cybercrime organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisations and the Ministry of Communications in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said, “While tackling cybercrime remains an enormous challenge that requires the engagement of a range of stakeholders, we can build coalitions and take steps that can reduce the scope and scale of cybercrimes.
“One of the UK’s key objectives for Nigeria this year, as indeed has been for the last couple of years, is to reduce the number of the UK citizens and businesses failing victim of fraud and cybercrime originating in Nigeria.
“We recognised that this could only happen if there are adequate legal and institutional structures in place to help respond to the challenges.”
The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said cyber security was extremely important in ensuring local, national and global security.
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