Fresh facts have emerged that the country may witness another round of fuel scarcity as major fuel marketers have declared an end in the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)
otherwise known as fuel, following the Federal Government’s alleged delay in the payment of N256.2 billion subsidy debt. Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Thomas Olawore, who said this at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, said the fuel stock in Apapa, nation’s hub of jetties and fuel storage, would dry up in “only three and half days from today (Friday).”
Olawore, whose association comprises Mobil, Total, Conoil, Oando and Forte oil, said: “The banks and our suppliers are on our necks, we have run out of funds appointand our operations are seriously being affected.” But commenting on the development, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Ohi Alegbe, said the stoppage of importation by MOMAN could not translate to fuel scarcity. Alegbe insisted that the volume of fuel in stock could last for 29 days even without importing.
While declaring that NNPC would not allow any fuel scarcity to disrupt the smooth transition on May 29, Alegbe said: “We do not want people to resort to panic buying because of this. We have said it times without number that there is sufficient fuel in our stock, which can last for 29 days.” He said the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had been adequately briefed to clamp down on any marketer, who plans to hoard the product.
Speaking further, Olawore faulted Alegbe’s claim that there was 29 day-stock of fuel, saying his group’s claim was true. “The NNPC man is not an operation man; he doesn’t know anything about this operation. I believe that he depends on secondary information. Please phone him again and ask him where this stock located is? “Please quote my name and tell him (Alegbe) that the statement portrays him as someone who knows nothing about this operation at all.
Tell him that I challenge him that if the stock is inland we will pay the flight tickets of some of you (Journalists) to go and check. If it is offshore let him tell us the names and number of the vessels. “As a matter of fact at yesterday (Friday) in Apapa, we have three and half days for our stocks to be depleted,” Olawore said.
“We have been paid up till Batch “N” which is the N100 billion Sovereign Debt Note and is to mature by the end of this month. From Batch “N” to “S” is the N100 billion but from batch T of 2014, batch U of 2014 then Batch A and B of 2015, totaling N40.3 billion are outstanding. “Another outstanding figure, which is the big one is the foreign exchange differentials (FOREX) and is N215.9 billion. All these are totaling N256.2 billion. This is also excluding the N100 billion post-dated Sovereign Debt Note (SDN).”
