—Pays oil marketers N156bn today
By David Agba
Abuja
The federal government has vowed that it would end the persistent fuel scarcity soon.
Consequently, it has resolved to pay major oil marketers the sum of N156 billion subsidy backlog and exchange rate differentials.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday disclosed that the payment would be made today.
Since fuel queues returned at filling stations in some parts of the country, especially in Abuja, the situation has not abated as the burning issue has been that marketers are not being paid the cost of importation of premium motor spirit (petrol) even while the Jonathan administration is on the verge of subsidy removal.
Okonjo-Iweala stated this while speaking during an interview with journalists shortly after declaring open the 20th conference of Directors-General of Customs of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) in Abuja.
The minister, while sympathising with Nigerians whose lives are being disrupted by queues, said the government is working hard to end the scarcity within the shortest time possible.
She said despite the revenue challenges facing the government, the issue of fuel subsidy payments to oil marketers had always been prioritised by the federal government.
The minister affirmed that the government had in December 2014 paid the sum of N350 billion to oil marketers, noting that an additional N31 billion in foreign exchange differentials had already been released.
She said: “On the issue of oil marketers, we have really been working with them and we have been dialoguing with them all along. We’ve paid N350 billion in December, we paid them N31 billion in foreign exchange differentials and by tomorrow (Thursday) we will be paying them N100 billion for which we had earlier given them IOUs for as well as their interest rate differentials of N56 billion.
“So, I am about to go and sign to get that paid, and I think that Nigerians can see that the government is making maximum effort to accommodate the oil marketers.
They are also Nigerians, and they need to also cooperate with us.”
The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association had put the aggregate subsidy arrears owed the marketers by the federal government at N356.2 billion.
While the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) are engaged in a face-off with MOMAN, the major oil marketers are angry with the government for not paying its members’ subsidy claims.
MOMAN had last Friday threatened to stop the importation of petroleum products over yet-to-be-paid N256 billion subsidy claims by the government.
The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr Obafemi Olawore, issued the threat at a news conference in Lagos.
