FG pays N156bn to marketers as fuel scarcity persists
The Federal Government has approved the payment of N156 Billion to major oil marketers as payment for subsidy owed to marketers.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who made this disclosure yesterday on the sideline of the ongoing 20th conference of the Director General of Customs of West and Central Africa in Abuja, added that the N156bn would be paid to the marketers today.
The Minister said; “we have been dialoguing with the oil marketers all along, we paid them N350 billon in December, we paid N31 billion for foreign exchange differentials, by tomorrow (today) we will be paying N100 billion for which we gave them IOU’s as well as their interest rate differentials of N56 billion”.
The payment is coming on the heels of increasing fuel scarcity as the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) threatened to stop importation due to government’s inability to pay N256.2 billion debt owed them.
The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, while briefing journalists in Lagos said the association may not be able to import petroleum products again as a result of the debt. He said, “MOMAN is being owed N256.2 billion. In February, the government paid marketers N100 billion subsidy claim through post-dated Sovereign Debt Note (SDN), which is expected to mature by the end of April (today). Prior to that, the government was indebted to the tune of N315.8 billion.
“If you deduct the N100 billion from the N315.8 billion, you will have N215.8 billion. Besides, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had earlier approved Batches T and U for last quarter of 2014, for payment which amounted to N30.5billion. In 2015, we also have Batches A and B for the products imported by MOMAN which have been approved by PPPRA but had not been paid. “This also amounted to N9.7 billion. So the money put together is N256 billion.”
But the Finance Minister said: “In this very difficult environment where revenue are constrained, we are doing our best and we have prioritized the marketers because we don’t want Nigerians to suffer, they too have to cooperate and be good citizens”.
Lawore, later told Daily Trust that MOMAN woul;d make a statement on the matter today.
“Can we wait until tomorrow? Once we collect it tomorrow, I will now make my comment. I don’t want to make a comment that will pre-empt tomorrow”, Lawore said when asked if MOMAN is satisfied with the government’s intervention.