ABUJA — The Federal Government, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the current fuel scarcity witnessed across the country will ease off before weekend, even as major petroleum marketers said they have deployed 495 truckloads of petrol, with a minimum capacity of 33,000 litres each to Lagos and Abuja.
Speaking after a meeting with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA; oil marketers and depot owners, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed that the Federal Government had addressed all issues in contention with the marketers, including those on foreign exchange rate differentials and payment for subsidy.
According to her, the Federal Government has agreed to pay the N30 billion, about N6 trillion, exchange rate differentials owed marketers over the last couple of months, and is already in the process of offsetting the N185 billion debts owed the marketers with the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes, SDNs, which is a guarantee used for the payment of imported petroleum products.
She said the Federal Government had been in talks with the marketers over the last 10 days, adding that the President wants Nigerians to know that he is working on the situation and committed to resolving the issue in the shortest possible time.
She urged marketers to be patriotic in their dealings with the government as the issue affects all and sundry, while commending Nigerians for their patience, saying the crisis will be over in the next couple of days.
She said: “In the next few days, the queues will dissipate, the situation will be addressed and everything will return to normal. At the Federal Executive Council meeting today (yesterday), the issue was discussed in terms of pushing forward and making sure things get back to normal.”
Banks open $500m LCs for oil marketers
Also speaking, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the apex bank met with banks and oil marketers to resolve all the contending issues associated with credit facilities, adding that in the last one week, over $500 million Letters of Credit, LCs, had been opened by banks on behalf of the marketers to facilitate fuel importation.
He called on any marketer who is experiencing delays with the LCs to alert the CBN, promising to step in and ensure the issue is resolved amicably.
495 truckloads of fuel for Lagos, Abuja
Speaking on behalf of the oil marketers, Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, promised that the queues will ease off in the next few days, as the marketers had moved about 495 truckloads of fuel to Lagos, Abuja and environs.
According to him, massive movement of fuel has been going on since the last three days, while three of its members have imported three cargoes of PMS due to agreements with the CBN and the Finance Ministry.
He, however, denied allegations that oil marketers are working with the opposition party or any other political party to frustrate the government of the day, stating that issues on fuel subsidy payment had been ongoing since November last year.
Breakdown of trucks’ movement
He said: “On Monday, major marketers moved 132 truckloads of fuel to Lagos, while 87 truckloads were moved to Abuja, and this is exclusive of the quantity moved by the NNPC, independent marketers and other marketers.
“On Tuesday, 137 trucks were moved to Lagos, while 139 trucks were for Abuja. You can see that the amount we moved to Abuja on Tuesday was far more than the quantity we moved on Monday. It normally takes between three and four days to transport the fuel from Lagos to Abuja, hence we believe the queues will ease off by weekend latest.
“Our actions are deliberate to ensure that the queues vanish and normalcy returns. I want to tell Nigerians that the tougher days are over, normalcy is expected to return pretty soon.”
We’ve 33 days of products in storage — PPPRA
Similarly, Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, said the agency had issued allocation to eight companies to import PMS in the month of March, while the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Pipelines Products Marketing Company, PPMC, will be importing over one billion litres of the commodity in the same month.
According to him, with the over 500 million litres of fuel in the NNPC depots offshore Lagos and other depots across the country, Nigeria has total national sufficiency of 33 days.
He said: “What this means is that if there was no additional importation of fuel in Nigeria in the next couple of days, we still have stock for the next 33 days. Hence, there is no need for concern and panic buying. We are not only concentrating on Lagos alone, but alsoon other urban and rural areas.”
In addition, representative of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, DAPPMA, Mr. Olufemi Adewole, said: “The tightness currently witnessed across the country will soon become a thing of the past. Our members are currently meeting with banks to open Letters of Credit. Once approved, cargoes of fuel will be imported.”(Vanguard)
