Petroleum marketers who complain of not receiving their bridging claims are mostly those involved in fraudulent activities, the immediate past Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board, Mrs. Sharon Kasali, has said.
According to her, some fuel marketers are yet to be paid their bridging claims because their demands are unverified. She described the claims as attempts to rob the government.
Kasali spoke at the headquarters of the PEF in Abuja on Monday while handing over to her successor, Mrs. Asabe Ahmed.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria had alleged that the scarcity of petroleum products nationwide had persisted because of the non-payment of bridging claims of about N42bn to its members by PEF.
But reacting to the claims, Kasali stated that PEF denied payment to a few marketers because it could not confirm if they loaded petroleum products at the depots.
“If they were not paid, then it is because we could not confirm that they loaded (products). So, if you are talking to an official or somebody who has claims that have stuck, it is because they were not loaded. We’ve got to confirm this most times. In other words, it is fraud,” she said.
By paying bridging claims to the marketers, PEF makes sure that there is uniform pricing system across the country and ensures that each marketing company complies with the laws regarding the management of the transportation equalisation process.
The agency equalises the transportation differentials in white product marketing.
“A lot of people that used to do fraud in this system have packed up their business and genuine marketers are getting paid,” Kasali added.
On allegations that the Project Aquila, an electronic verification system that was initiated by her regime, was fraught with inefficiencies and challenges, she said, “It is not true.
“The system is there for anybody to review. So, if 90 per cent are getting certified for payments and the remaining are not, shouldn’t that say that the remaining five to 10 per cent are having something wrong with them?”
The PEF bridging scheme was originally introduced as a temporary measure during the turn-around maintenance of the refineries wherein the government sought to encourage and support marketers in transporting petroleum products to all parts of the country.
Although bridging was meant to be a temporary solution until the refineries were brought back to full capacity, the state of the refineries worsened over the years.
According to the agency, the initial projection was to have a maximum of 10 per cent of total petroleum products bridged, while the remaining portion would be pumped through the pipelines.
“However, trend analyses indicate that bridging of products has consistently increased over the years to about 40 per cent,” it stated.
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