…as FG agrees to pay N30bn
Indications that the current fuel scarcity in major cities across the country may end before the weekend emerged yesterday as major marketers said at least 495 trucks had been deployed to Lagos and Abuja for distribution in major outlets.
This is just as the Federal Government assured Nigerians that the prevailing scarcity would ease off by the weekend nationwide.
Giving assurance of government’s efforts to ensure availability of fuel across the country after a meeting with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, oil marketers and depot owners in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the Federal Government had addressed contentious issues with the marketers that would guarantee uninterrupted supply of product into the downstream market.
These include the issue of the foreign exchange rate differentials and part payment of outstanding subsidy payment arrears, amongst others.
Specifically, the minister said that government had agreed to pay the N30bn exchange rate differentials owed marketers over the last couple of months and had also begun the process of offsetting the N185bn debts owed them with the issuance of the Sovereign Debt Note, SDN.
Okonjo-Iweala confirmed that as part of government’s commitment to addressing all the problems in the downstream sub-sector, it had in the last 10 days been discussing with the marketers, adding that the President wants Nigerians to know that it is working on the situation and is aiming to resolve the issues in the shortest possible time.
While commending Nigerians for their patience, the minister urged marketers to be patriotic in their dealings with the government given the sensitivity of the issues surrounding product importation and supply.
She said: In the next few days, the queues will dissipate, the situation will be addressed and everything will return to normal.
At the Federal Executive Council meeting today (yesterday), the issue was discussed in terms of pushing forward and making sure things get back to normal.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, who spoke on the details of product’s distributions in the market, promised that the queues will be over within the next few days, as the marketers had moved 495 truckloads of fuel to Lagos, Abuja and environs.
According to him, in addition to ongoing movement of fuel into the market in the past three days, MOMAN members have imported three cargoes of PMS due to agreements with the CBN and the Ministry of Finance.
He said: On Monday, major marketers moved 132 truck loads of fuel to Lagos, while 87 truck loads were moved to Abuja, and this is exclusive to the quantity moved by the NNPC, independent marketers and other marketers.
On Tuesday, 137 trucks were moved to Lagos, while 139 trucks were moved to Abuja. You can see that the amount we moved to Abuja was far more than the quantity we moved on Monday. It normally takes between three and four days to transport the fuel from Lagos to Abuja; hence we believe the queues will ease off by weekend, latest.
Our actions are deliberate, to ensure that the queues vanish and normalcy returns. I want to tell Nigerians that tougher days are over; normalcy is expected to return pretty soon.
In his remarks, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the apex bank had met with banks and oil marketers to resolve all the contentious issues associated with credit facilities, adding that in the last one week, over $500m Letters of Credit had been opened by banks on behalf of the marketers.
He called on marketers, who were still experiencing delays in their Letters of Credit to alert the CBN to ensure the challenge is resolved amicably.
Meanwhile, the Kano State branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has dismiss the allegations that its members were responsible for the shortage of petrol in the state and other northern states of Yobe, Jigawa and Bauchi.
IPMAN Chairman in the state, Alhaji Bashir Dan Mallam yesterday in Kano said independent petrol marketers were compel by certain factors to refrain from buying and conveying petrol products to states in the zone.
He cited the wide exchange rate margin between the dollar and the naira as a major factor that informed the decision, adding that, at the current exchange rate, they stand to incur huge losses, if they import the product for sale.
Dan Mallam said there may not be respite for fuel consumers, except the Federal Government takes speedy measures in effecting the payment of arrears of subsidies owed marketers.