The federal government and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have resolved the lingering disagreement on subsidy payment which was responsible for the fuel scarcity experienced across the the country.
The federal government, at the end of a meeting with the MOMAN in Abuja, yesterday, assured that the fuel scarcity being experienced in some parts of the country would be over within the next few days.
The meeting, presided over by the minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja.
It was also resolved at the meeting which was attended by the representatives of the MOMAN and some senior officials in the ministry that outstanding subsidy claims would be paid even after a new government takes over power At the end of the meeting which lasted over four hours, Okonjo-Iweala, who briefed journalists in the company of the executive secretary of the MOMAN, Mr Thomas Olawore, said the issues that led to the scarcity has been resolved.
She said that based on the discussions at the meeting, the federal government and the oil marketers have both agreed to bring an end to the fuel scarcity problem.
“We have appealed to them (oil marketers) and you have heard them saying that following the payment of the N154 billion things will ease off. We have spent a considerable time talking about this and we welcome the news that have been announced by the marketers and we thank them.
“On our own side, we have discussed the issues they have put on the table and we are looking into them. Government is a continuum and you find out that whatever the issues are they would be resolved so that Nigerians will not suffer,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
When asked how the controversy surrounding the outstanding actual subsidy arrears being owed the marketers was resolved, the minister said that it would be difficult to get the exact debt owing to what she described as the rolling nature of the business. She, however, said that with the understanding reached with the marketers all the outstanding debts owed would be paid based on claims processed by the Petroleum Pricing Products Regulatory Agency.
The minister said, “What I want you to understand is that this is a rolling business and there is no one definitive figure. Even as we talk today by the time we leave, the executive secretary of the PPPRA may have cleared some more sovereign debt notes. As we speak, the executive secretary has been clearing and certifying payments and that is why it is really not a fixed sum.
“We shouldn’t get fixated to that particular number because once they keep supplying fuel to Nigerians there will always been something to pay and government is continuous. When we came in, there was money owed and we have continued to clear the money.”
Also speaking, Olawore assured that the fuel scarcity would end within the week.
“You all recall that there were some issues with the movement of products to some retail outlets. Following from the release of the last payment of N154 billion, the owners of the trunks have agreed to allow their trunks to start loading. They have been loading and the scarcity in Lagos is beginning to get better,” he said.
So because of the distance from lagos to abuja, it would take some time before abuja gets to its normal position but in a couple of days, you will see that Abuja will also have to the relief you normally know of.”
Also, when asked what is now the outstanding debt owed the oil marketers, he said, “First we must get it clear that at what point did we get that figure. If am going to calculate, I will end up today as a marker but it depends on the figure the PPPRA give to Debt Management Office and DMO has scrutinized and sent to the ministry of finance.
“So the person that is doing the movement will do it to the last day and my document may not have passed through this process and that is why we have the disparity.”
Source : Leadership