Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), yesterday, said that the federal government owed her members some N120 billion and that no independent marketer had received subsidy claims for last year, now totaling over N100 billon.
The failure of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) to release the import allocation to the oil marketing and trading companies, may therefore, result in another round of fuel scarcity.
Members of MOMAN include: Oando, Total, Forte Oil, MRS, Mobil and Conoil.
Mr. Obafemi Olawore, executive secretary, MOMAN, also faulted claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it has enough products to keep the country wet for a reasonable period of time.
At a press conference in Lagos, Olawore, lamented the delay in the import allocation for the first quarter of the year, adding that fuel scarcity was already imminent as a result of the development.
He said that MOMAN members currently had 45,000 metric tonnes of petrol, or about 60 million litres, which could only last for five days starting from yesterday (Monday).
The MOMAN Boss said that “Up till this moment that I speak with you, they have yet to give us allocation, except if they are planning to do so in the evening (of Monday).”
“There may be some tightness in supply. This means that the quantity that is available to the market will be reducing little by little. I am not going to say that if they don’t give us allocation, queues will reappear; no, what I am saying is that what we have will diminish little by little until it finishes” he added
He urged to the PPPRA and the relevant bodies in the ministry to avert whatever might plunge the country into another round of fuel scarcity.
He said, “Once this happens, there will be problem. But we are appealing to them to do what is right so that there won’t be any problem.”