The federal government, yesterday,
assured Nigerians that the fuel scarcity
would ease up by the weekend, even as
major petroleum marketers said they have
deployed 495 truckloads of fuel, with a
minimum capacity of 33,000 litres, to
Lagos and Abuja.
The government said it would release the
sum of N30billion to fuel marketers, to
enable them offset the exchange rate
differentials incurred by them over the last
couple of months, due to the depreciation
of the Naira.
Also, Sovereign Debt Notes (SDNs) are
being issued to the marketers, to cover
the N185billion subsidy payment owed
the marketers.
Speaking after a meeting with the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA), oil marketers and depot owners,
the minister of finance and coordinating
minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala also said the federal
government had addressed all contentious
issues for the marketers, such as the
foreign exchange rate differentials.
According to her, the federal government
has agreed to pay the N30billion
exchange rate differentials owed the
marketers over the last couple of months
and is already in the process of offsetting
the N185billion debt owed the marketers
with the issuance of the SDNs.
She said the federal government has been
in talks with the marketers within the last
10 days, stating that the president
wanted Nigerians to know that it was
working on the situation and aiming to
resolve the issue in the shortest possible
time.
She urged the marketers to be patriotic in
their dealings with the government, as the
issue affects all and sundry, even as she
commended Nigerians for their patience,
saying the crisis would 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, the issue was discussed in terms
of pushing forward and making sure
things get back to normal.”
Also speaking, CBN governor, Mr Godwin
Emefiele, said the apex bank had met
with banks and oil marketers to resolve
all the contending issues associated with
credit facilities, stating that in the last
one week, over $500million Letters of
Credit had been opened by banks on
behalf of the marketers.
He called on marketers experiencing delay
in their Letters of Credit to alert the CBN,
promising to step in and ensure the issue
is resolved amicably.
Speaking of behalf of the oil marketers,
executive secretary, Major Oil Marketers
Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr
Obafemi Olawore, stated that the queues
would end in the next few days, as the
marketers had moved 495 truckloads of
fuel to Lagos and Abuja and environs.
According to him, massive movement of
fuel has been going on over the last three
days, while three of its members have
imported three cargoes of PMS, in line
with agreements with the CBN and the
Finance Ministry.
He said, “On Monday, major marketers
moved 132 truckloads of fuel to Lagos,
while 87 truckloads were moved to Abuja,
and this is exclusive to the quantity
moved by the NNPC, independent
marketers and other marketers.
“On Tuesday, 137 trucks were moved to
Lagos, while 139 trucks were moved
Abuja. You can see that the amount we
moved to Abuja 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 tough days are
over; normalcy is expected to return
pretty soon.”
