‘Fuel scarcity to persist until N200b debt is paid’

The fuel scarcity may linger until the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari government takes over on May 29.

Members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Ministry of Finance have refused to agree on the way forward.

The oil marketers have stopped importation of the product.

The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore and the Executive Secretary of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Mr. Olufemi Adewole, told reporters yesterday in Lagos that government should pay the over N200 billion subsidy debt to enable them resume importation so as to free Apapa, Lagos roads from congestion as trucks from every part of the country have relocated to load fuel.

The marketers said if the current regime fails to pay their debt, they will approach the incoming government. This implies that fuel scarcity will continue into the Buhari-led government.

Olawore said: “Because of the huge outstanding that we have, and because we have not been able to pay back the loans that we have taken, and because our suppliers are also not too confident, we are unable to bring in fresh imports. Whatever we have now is what we have received from NNPC and the small quantity is why all the trucks are hanging on in Lagos.

“For the two weeks that you have seen all this madness or fuel scarcity on the road in Lagos, nobody has spoken with us. Even the last meeting we had with the Minister, we requested for it and we believe that if they are sensitive, they should call us this time to ask us.

“In the last meeting with the Coordinating Minister, I insisted on N200 billion but she insisted on N131 billion but the way to resolve that figure was the timing. She probably might be using an old cut-off date and we were using a current cut-off date as at that time. She decided to set up a committee comprising representatives from Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Debt Management Office (DMO), among others to verify our claim. But we are of the opinion that there was no need to verify what has been verified by the PPPRA. The entire thing by the finance ministry is just a ploy to delay payment.”

But if the present regime fails to pay, Olawore said: “The debt was incurred in the present regime and we believe that they should pay. However, if they don’t pay, we will approach the new government and tell them what happened. Whether we will resume importation of fuel depends on whether we have money or not.”

Adewole said: “All the monies that we are being owed, the interests increase on daily basis and we are pleading that the Federal Government should pay our members. The logjam you see in Apapa is part of the result of not having the product. When tankers come to Lagos, instead of lifting fuel from our depots to their various locations and destinations, they wait because there is no product to lift. The two associations were owed N200 billion as at February but between February and now, the debt has risen due to interests on bank loans.

Currently, it is only importation made by the NNPC that is distributed and the corporation can only import what can meet 59 per cent of national fuel consumption.”