The fourth day of public hearings of the House of Representatives’ ad-hoc committee’s investigation into the subsidy management has produced even more shocking revelations.

Speaking before the House of Representatives, Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation was able to deduct subsidy funds without the approval of the finance ministry.

When queried further on this, the minister of finance said she had no explanation for it, adding that it was “just a practice”.

Testifying at the eharing of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, the minister revealed that giving the NNPC the power to deduct from the federal account with permission had been a government decision.

Both the finance ministry and the petroleum ministry have come under fire during the probe as lawmakers demand valid answers as to why the subsidy payments in 2011 reached a whopping N1.3 trillion.

During her testimony, the Petroleum minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke had attributed exorbitant subsidy amount to the payments of kerosene subsidy in arrears, claiming that the amount for subsidizing kerosene came to “slightly over” N300bn.

Making reference to the elusive “cabals”, who have been accused of corrupting the subsidy system and have so far escaped mention, Madueke refused to point the finger, saying it would be wrong to “speculate on the existence or not of a purported cabal”.

She added: “I think that we cannot afford as a country, to criminalise, either a certain group with one fell swoop or one brush for all… just as we cannot actually afford to criminalise the actual policy of subsidy itself”.

Both the Finance and the Petroleum ministers maintain that they will employ transparency in the times ahead and fight to fish out corruption from the oil sector. However, both of them have been widely and openly criticised for their handling of the subsidy payments and the removal of it.

Using twitter, Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) deflected some of that blame, saying: “People have been loading the blame of this policy on me, and I read them all over the internet. That is not fair”.

She further tweeted: “I repeat, the fuel subsidy removal is a government decision. I will not allow anyone to put the blame on me”.