MARKETERS ARE STILL BEING OWED OVER N291Bn

…Ask FG to deregulate oil sector.

By Ugo Amadi

Aftermath of the Senate Committees' meeting with major petroleum industry stakeholders which successfully persuaded the petroleum tanker drivers, PTD-NUPENG and NARTO to call off their strike on Monday, 25th May, 2015 and resume loading of fuel from the various depots that had stock, it has become necessary to state the fact that depot owners and other fuel importers under the ‘petroleum subsidy scheme’ are still being owed billions of naira in unpaid subsidy reimbursement, interest on delayed payment and foreign exchange differentials.

This much was expressed to Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association: DAPPMA and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria: MOMAN by the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Mrs. Okonjo Iweala in her letter to both associations, a copy of which she also released to the Senate Committees for reference.

In a statement made available to Daily Champion in Lagos, the Executive Secretary , Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association(DAPPMA), Olufemi  Adewole  said that  the letter did not state the timeline for the re-verification exercise which the minister instituted on the amount she disputed and also did not state the expected date of payment which ‘PSF’ participants had been clamouring for in all the meetings held with the former CME/HMF since February 2015.

He  noted that this is the first time since the establishment of the petroleum subsidy fund scheme that marketers will not have ready and easy access to fuel import loans as it is also the first time that commercial banks will notify importers that based on CBN regulations, importers have attained their credit ceilings with their various banks and would have to make some refunds on the existing loans to the sector prior to being funded for petrol imports; unfortunately the expected refund to the banks is yet to be reimbursed by the Federal Government.

He stressed that due to debts owed transporters by marketers, who have been experiencing serious financial stress due to outstanding debts owed them by the Federal Government as a result of petrol imports under the petroleum subsidy scheme, the PTD-NUPENG and NARTO had at various times protested non-payment of their freight charges by withdrawing their services hence it is unfortunate for anyone to insinuate that marketers are blackmailers holding the nation to ransom via a strike about which they know nothing.

According to the statement “DAPPMA’s initial assertion on petrol importers and marketers who participate in the petrol subsidy scheme and are therefore entitled to subsidy reimbursement is based on the widely circulated payment list from the Federal Ministry of Finance, which was published in several newspapers.

 The publication detailed payees and other ‘PSF scheme’ participants even when there was no payment due to them and the name of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited was conspicuously missing; however further investigations have confirmed that the company is indeed being owed an undisclosed amount which however cannot be confirmed to have been added to the figure released by the former CME/HMF.

“It  would be gross injustice against participants in the ‘PSF scheme’ who actually render a social service to the nation by importing petrol at international rate and sell below cost price at the behest of the Federal Government to be accused of being saboteurs just because they asked to be refunded the difference between the landing cost of the imported petrol and the local selling price in line with the agreed conditions of participation”.Adewole stated

He expressed that depot owners and marketers, as patriotic Nigerians, had always advocated the need to remove fuel subsidy, which only benefit foreign refineries where the product consumed locally in Nigeria is being sourced.

The Stakeholders therefore calls on the  Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream petroleum sector as the Nigerian economy cannot continue to sustain the subsidy regime. Stressing that   funds released after the removal of subsidy can be utilized for infrastructural development and job creation as addition to jobs already created by DAPPMA members