Fuel Crisis May Return as Oil Marketers Issue Notice on N800bn Subsidy Claims
There are palpable apprehension that fuel crisis may hit Nigeria following a 7-day notice given by oil marketers to the federal government to settle outstanding subsidy claims of N800bn.
The N800bn include unpaid claims, including foreign exchange differentials and interests, according to the marketers.
Members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and the Independent Petroleum Products Importers (IPPIs) threatened that if the federal government fails to settle the debt, they will be compelled to shut depots.
Legal Adviser to IPPIs, Mr. Patrick Etim, who spoke on behalf of the marketers Sunday said they had no choice than to issue the notice as their investments are being taken over by banks.
Etim also said that the marketers have found it difficult to pay workers’ salaries as a result of the huge debt.
He said, “The only way to salvage the situation is when government pays the outstanding debts through cash option. Other forms of payment instrument like promissory note would not save the intended mass retrenchment.
“As at the tail end of 2018, several months after the assurances were received from government that it would pay off the outstanding debts, it has not paid.
“The oil marketers have requested that forex differentials and interest components of the government’s indebtedness to marketers calculated up to December 2018 be paid within the next seven days from the date of the letter sent to them.”
Etim said that some marketers have already asked their workers to stay at home from December as they could not pay salaries.
“At the inception of the current administration, marketers engaged the government with a view to secure approval for all outstanding subsidy induced debts handed over to the current administration”., he said.
The Executive Secretary of DAPPMA, Mr. Olufemi Adewole, told newsmen a notice has been sent to the Debt Management Office (DMO), Minister of Finance, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, among others.
Adewole saidm “We urged the DMO to process and pay marketers in cash for their outstanding forex differentials and interest component claims, together with the amount already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly.
“Marketers are not in a position to discount payment on the subsidy induced debt owed as proposed by DMO; the expected payment is made up of bank loans, outstanding admin charges due to Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), outstanding bridging fund due Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board (PEF(M)B) and in a few cases AMCON judgment debts.
“We urge that the FEC’s approved payment instrument, (the promissory note), be substituted with cash and paid through our bankers to stop the waste of public funds through these debts accruing interest.’’
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