FG TO PAY N264BN FUEL SUBSIDY BEFORE POLLS

9 years ago

FG TO PAY N264BN FUEL SUBSIDY BEFORE POLLS

The federal government has pledged to pay the sum of N264 billion being the outstanding fuel subsidy claims before the general election in March.

This was made known by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), yesterday in Lagos, which said that government has set March as the deadline for payment of the claims.

The executive secretary of the MOMAN, Mr Obafemi Olawore, who dropped the hint denied the rumour that the situation could cause scarcity in the country.

According him, the federal government owes the MOMAN members the sum of N264 billion outstanding subsidies from 2014 to part of 2015.

He also said that marketers were being owed N100 billion in foreign exchange and interest rate to date, adding that last year marketers were paid N345 billion for 2013 and part of 2014 while some outstanding is still pending.

Olawore said that the minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, met with some stakeholders and marketers on Monday and promised to ensure the payment of all outstanding subsidy claims to date. He stated that the minister had drawn a time table for payment on subsidy claims for marketers and appealed to all parties involved to keep their promises.

“We pray the minister does not fail on her promise to pay us all the outstanding debt by March ending.

We assure that with the promise of the minister on effective payment of our subsidy money, distribution of petroleum products across the country would commence immediately,” he promised.

The executive secretary, MOMAN, said that complete deregulation of the downstream sector remains the only way to address importation of products and subsidy payment. He noted that the deregulation of the downstream would fast-track the springing up of more modular refineries in the country, urging the National Assembly to pass the petroleum industry bill to address the sector challenges.

According to him, “Most marketers and companies have reached their limit; we cannot get fund from banks any longer due to the outstanding subsidy claims that have not been paid.”
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“The stock level of products in out tank farms is pretty low but we are going to start importing product and loading all products within our facility to filling station to wet the country with products.

Minister of Finance, minister of Petroleum Resources, CBN Governor are discussing on how to address issues of foreign exchange which also encourage us to commence importation.

He said that government has assured payment differential on product margin to marketers from products importation.