Transporters of petroleum products are currently owed the sum of N20bn by oil marketers, according to the marketers.
But while transporters were said to be claiming this sum from marketers, our correspondent gathered that the amount had not been reconciled.
With the N20bn sum not yet reconciled in the books of the transporters and marketers, industry sources say likely variation after the said reconciliation will be very insignificant, as it had been the case over time.
This development, our correspondent gathered, had resulted in a strike by the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, on Tuesday, reiterated that it had enough stock of petrol to service the country for 27 days at a national consumption rate of 40 million litres per day even as it has stepped up efforts to end the distribution challenges in the fuel supply system.
The corporation, which stated this in a statement signed by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, said it had sufficient stock of petrol at its coastal depots in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Calabar besides the stock it holds in the national strategic reserves.
It explained that the distribution hitch was due to the strike by NARTO and PTD members who had refused to lift petroleum products from the coastal depots in protest against the huge amounts they were being owed by the major marketers.
“We are, however, working towards a speedy resolution of the issues to ensure a hitch-free distribution of products across the country”, the Corporation stated, while appealing to NARTO and PTD to call off the strike in the interest of the country and not unleash unnecessary hardship on Nigerians.
Commenting on the development, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, confirmed the rising debt profile of marketers especially to transporters.
He also confirmed that all marketers were currently indebted to transporters, saying the situation was already escalating a round of tension in the petrol supply chain.
Olawore also confirmed to our correspondent that petroleum products transporters were being owed about N20bn by marketers, who currently are financially constrained.
He said, “All marketers are owing the transporters, and the transporters are not happy with the development as they have continued to call for their payment. There had been threats by them to also down tools if the debts were not paid to them.
“They (transporters) say we are owing them N20bn, but we have not reconciled that amount with them. But the truth of the matter is that after the reconciliation is done by both parties, the final amount would be a little less or above the N20bn claimed.”
Olawore said it was unlike marketers to continue to owe transporters even when it was obvious that the debt was capable of causing a major setback in the supply process. According to him, the inability or refusal of the Federal Government to meet its financial obligation in the current subsidy regime for petrol, remains the reason the transporters are being owed.
Currently, the aggregate subsidy arrears owed oil marketers by the Federal Government has been put at N356.2bn, according to data released by MOMAN and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association last week.
Out of this amount is the sum of N100bn the Federal Government had made provision for in a Sovereign Debt Note, which is expected to mature at the end of April this year. For the SDN that was post-dated, he said marketers trusted the Federal Government by accepting the instrument, as such instrument was not supposed to be post-dated.
However, the remaining N256.2bn comprises actual subsidy arrears for part of 2014 (batch T and U) and 2015 (batch A and B) and the foreign exchange differentials cum bank interests.
The actual subsidy for the period was put at N40.3bn while the value of the foreign exchange differentials and accrued interest was N215.9bn.
Olawore had said members were increasingly finding it difficult to continue importation of petrol for a while now, and that though it was the wish MOMAN and DAPPMA to continue to import owing to the efforts committed to the exercise, market situation had continued to get tougher.
He said in March/April this year, government made a part payment of N37m for foreign exchange differentials specifically; of which no amount was paid for accrued interests or actual subsidy.
Last week, Olawore was quoted as saying that, “We are owed N256.2bn by government in subsidy arrears, but the N100bn post-dated SDN has not been received by us yet.
“In a few days’ time, our stock would be depleted, and thereafter, the country would have no choice but to start relying solely on products from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.”
The MOMAN spokesperson said the country would be for another round of product deficit if the current situation was not addressed by the government, adding that the NNPC would not be able to meet the huge demand for product in the country alone.
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