FG, Oil Marketers Move to End Fuel Scarcity

CBN, PPPRA, MOMAN c’ttee set up to verify claims

Ndubuisi Francis Reprieve from the lingering fuel scarcity across the country may soon come the way of Nigerians following the pledge made yesterday by oil marketers to end days of petrol scarcity.

The promise came after a protracted meeting between federal government officials led by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and those of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) represented by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Obafemi Olowore.

The meeting was held to iron out the grey areas between both parties, including disparities on outstanding subsidy claims, and the insistence by the marketers to be paid outstanding claims in two weeks.

But the knotty issue of the disparity over what is actually due to the marketers after the last payment of N154 billion last week, was played down yesterday.

Briefing journalists after the meeting in her office, OkonjoIweala and Olowore said that the differences had been sorted out, but declined to state categorically what the outstanding claims to the marketers were.

The minister said the marketers had already agreed that since the issue of claims was a rolling one and the government had been meeting its payment obligations as much as possible, they would henceforth ensure the supply of fuel to end the hardship Nigerians are facing across the country.

The minister said the marketers had already commenced the process of ending the fuel scarcity by ensuring the supply of the product in Lagos, adding that in a few days, Abuja and other parts of the country would get reprieve.

Agreeing with the minister, the MOMAN executive secretary said some vessels had already berthed at two jetties in Lagos, discharging fuel, adding that reprieve was on the way.

The minister cleared the air on what was actually paid to the marketers last week, pointing out that N154 billion was actually paid to them and not N156 billion as had been reported, adding that the error had been rectified.

Before the meeting, the marketers had claimed that an outstanding N200 billion was still due to them after last week’s payment of N154 billion. But the federal government at the weekend insisted that based on the figures at its disposal from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the marketers were owed N131 billion.

However, at the briefing yesterday, the minister and MOMAN stated that since the claims were rolling in nature, the figures would continue to change as PPPRA verifies them.

But THISDAY gathered that prior to the media briefing, the federal government and MOMAN had agreed at the closed-door meeting to constitute a small committee comprising PPPRA, MOMAN and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to verify the claims.

While reacting to the N200 billion claims by the marketers, the minister had on Sunday queried the parameters they used in arriving at the figures, and argued that the claims needed to be verified.

“PPPRA needs to look at this. How is it being calculated? Is it in line with the exchange rate policy that was just announced by the CBN? Has the CBN certified that this has been done the proper way, given the fact that we had a huge exchange rate shock? Is this the proper way for them to calculate this because when circumstances change, you also have to look at your methodology?

“You can’t just keep doing the same thing you did before. The country just went through a revenue shock, which led to a devaluation, and exchange rate depreciation. So have they sat with the central bank to discuss? We are talking to PPPRA; we have a very good dialogue... we are asking questions because we do not want to leave an unverified burden for the incoming government to pay.