The lingering fuel scarcity across the country may soon come the way of Nigerians following assurances on Monday by oil marketers to end months of scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS).
The assurances 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 grey areas between both parties, including disparities on outstanding subsidy claims, and the insistence by the marketers to be paid what is left in two weeks.
But the knotty issue of disparity over what is actually accruing to the marketers in subsidies after the last payment was played down.
Briefing journalists after the meeting in her office, Okonjo-Iweala and Olowore assured that the differences had been sorted out, but declined to state categorically what the outstanding claims accruing to the marketers are.
The minister said the marketers had already agreed that since the issue of claims is a rolling one and the government has 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 in motion by ensuring the supply of the product in Lagos, adding that in a few days, Abuja and other parts of the country would witness a let-off.
Corroborating the minister, the MOMAN Executive Secretary said some vessels had already berthed at two jetties in Lagos, discharging fuel, assuring 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 were claiming that an outstanding N200 billion was accruing to them after last week’s payment of N154 billion while 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 being owed N131 billion.
However, at the briefing yesterday, the minister and MOMAN stated that since the claims are rolling in nature, the figures would continue to change as PPPRA clears.
But The Afrika Market 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 (Central Bank of Nigeria)? Has the CBN certified that this has been 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.
“We don’t want to do that. So, this must be thoroughly looked at and certified. We recognise that marketers are business people, who are in business and have to be paid,” the minister said.
FRENCH VERSION
