FUEL pumps may start flowing again, with senators facilitating an agreement between the Federal Government and oil marketers. Tankers are to immediately start lifting fuel in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar depots.
The Senate yesterday mandated its joint committee on Petroleum Resources (upstream and downstream) to meet with stakeholders, including the Federal Government, to resolve the lingering fuel scarcity, which has crippled the economy.
Banks have cut work hours and mobile firms are threatening to shut down. Transport fares are hitting the roof and airlines are cancelling flights.
The resolutions were read by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe.
Part of the resolutions is the immediate call-off of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PNGASSAN) strike.
The resolution said that the strike was called off after the intervention of the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Joseph Dawha.
The resolution mandated the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to give an undertaking to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Depot Managers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMA) that the work of the committee being headed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will be concluded.
The committee is to verify the N200 billion MOMAN is claim that the government owes its members.
The resolution said if the committee “concludes its verifications of the outstanding claims before the end of the life of this administration, it would be reflected in the handover notes to the new president.
“If it is not concluded, then, the fact that such a committee was set up and is working, will be reflected in the handover notes and a copy of the letter conveying the existence of this committee will be sent to MOMAN and DAPPMA and, also, a copy will be sent to us in this committee.”
It added “On the basis of that agreement, MOMAN will offer whatever cooperation that is needed to enable lifting of petroleum products to begin nationwide within six hours.
“MOMAN has also agreed to give a similar undertaking to National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to pay existing transport costs as has been determined by them.
“MOMAN will give a written undertaking to NARTO and a copy will also be sent to this committee.
“NARTO and its affiliates nationwide will commence lifting of petroleum products from available fuel depots within the next six hours.
“DAPPMA is to instruct all their depots that have products to open those depots up to lifting of petroleum products within the next six hours.”
Abe said that they also agreed with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) that “any depot that has product and fails to lift in the next six hours should have their licences revoked immediately.”
He went on: “We have also agreed that NNPC should direct its staff nationwide to work 24 hours, including Saturdays and Sundays, for the next two weeks until normalcy returns to the sector.
“We have also agreed to reach out to the Lagos State Government to facilitate this agreement and reach some kind of arrangement with tanker drivers to allow access to the relevant depots to facilitate lifting of products.”
Abe had in his opening remarks said that the country is in a national emergency due to scarcity of petroleum products,
He noted that impression was that “no government is in place but there is government in place as the Nigerian Constitution does not envisage any vacuum.
He said: “As we speak, the airlines are shutting down, telecommunications are shutting down, banks are sending text messages that they are shutting down. We are in a situation of national emergency. I don’t want to talk about what the ordinary man in the streets is going through. I don’t want to talk about what private businesses are going through. We must resolve to solve the problem so that Nigeria can work again.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Emmanuel Paulker, described the situation “as a national disaster”.
He insisted that the meeting should work to find lasting solution in the interest of the country.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who briefed the committee extensively, said she was at a loss about what is happening.
She said: “I’m not really sure about what is going on. I also want to understand what is going on. I deeply sympathise with Nigerians. It is deeply regrettable that Nigerians are put in this situation. There is deep anger. The government has done creditably.”
The Minister wondered why diesel that is not regulated is also scarce and not available for Nigerians to buy.
She said: “Diesel is not regulated, it is not subsidised. Why is diesel not available? Diesel is a product that should be available for everybody to buy. I want to understand why diesel is also not available.”
The Minister said that she had a pattern of payment to marketers which the government had not deviated from.
She added that the pattern this year is even better than what the government had in 2014.
She insisted that payment to marketers is a rolling obligation and “there is no time that government has reduced the payment to zero”.
The behavior of marketers, she said, “is inexplicable”.
She said the last payment the government made to the marketers was N154 billion two weeks ago.
The Minister said the marketers quickly came up with another claim of N200 billion.
She said the claim was queried only for the government to find out that N159 billion out of the N200 billion was foreign exchange differential and not for actual product.
“I told them it is better we get the whole thing verified where the CBN will participate and be in charge of the verification. We agreed to set up a committee but even before we conducted the verification they have started withdrawing and shutting down their facilities.
“Before I came in, N1.3 trillion was supposedly owed the marketers but there was no shutdown. With N200 billion, the entire country is being shut down.
“Government is a continuum; why are they saying that the debt must be brought to zero? Is government no longer a continuum?”
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said she did not want to leave government in four day time and be summoned to explain why she signed N159 billon cheque.
“There is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the economy and bring it to a halt so that it will look as if government did not do any thing,” she said.
Insisting that the whole thing is in bad faith, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said that Nigerians should ask marketers why diesel that is not regulated is not available.
She said: “The government cares about Nigerians and the President is deeply concerned. The payment is a rolling payment and there has never been a time when everything is paid.”
She said the marketers had been paid and there is no reason for them to withhold products except it is deliberate or sabotage.
MOMAN spokesman Obafemi Olawore blamed it all on lack of funds to import products.
Olawore noted that at the peak of the challenges facing the association, banks refused to extend credit line to them because members owe banks.
He said they could not import products on their own.
He said of N154 billion paid their members, they are owed transporters.
Olawore also said that because they cannot import on their own, their members can only discharge the products they received from the NNPC.
The DPR confirmed the availability of products in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar.
It said Lagos alone has 425m liters of PMS.
NNPC GMD, Dawha said there was sufficient product in the country.
He said: “Even before the election, we made sure that there is sufficient product so that the election will not be disrupted.
“Even now, we know that there is transition, we make sure there is sufficient product.
“The marketers are not importing, there is also no lifting for obvious reasons. We also experienced small strike by NNPC workers which has also complicated the matter. We are hoping that they will call off the strike today.
