Marketers and distributors not likely to supply fuel until the Buhari administration takes over to sort out the mess in the sector
By ADEOLA SULAIMAN
The inauguration of the new administration at federal and state levels across the country would be marred by the decision of the cabals in the Nigerian petroleum industry to hold the nation hostage until the new administration yields to their, so far subtle, blackmail not to reform the oil sector.
Lagosians are also in for a tough week as scarcity is likely to get tougher, making commutes to work a costly hurdle for many.
Investigations conducted by CITY VOICE revealed that the main reason behind the ongoing fuel scarcity is the refusal of the incoming Buhari administration to give its consent to the ongoing arrangement where fuel importers routinely collect billions of naira as subsidy.
Sources close to Buhari’s transition committee said several back-channel meetings with the marketers reveal that they want a continuation of the present system, which the new administration has promised to probe and threatened to sanction whoever is found to have wrongly benefitted from it.
This has also sent a warning to officials of the outgoing administration, who are battling dwindling revenue and a mounting debt profile, not to yield to pressure by making payment for the recent set of claims made by the marketers.
Minister of finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala who said at the weekend that the country’s current debt stock stood at $63 billion, revealed that a total of N500 billion has been paid to the markets as ‘subsidy’ since December 2014, despite the tough financial conditions.
She pointedly stated that the marketers were holding Nigerians to ransom because they knew that everyone would blame the government.
“After we made the last payment, which was N154 billion, they said it was remaining N200 billion. When we looked at the figure they were asking for, N159 billion was for exchange rate differential, not for the actual supply of the physical product, and they wanted me to sign and release this money.
“But I said no. The sensible thing to do is to call those responsible for looking at exchange rate, the CBN, to come in and verify the figures because there has been so much fraud allegations and scams in this business of oil marketing.
“We met with the marketers and agreed to set up a committee to do this chaired by PPPRA and the CBN gave two directors. Is that not a sensible thing to do? To show you how in bad faith the marketers were working, the very next day after they announced to Nigerians that the issues were resolved and that supply of fuel will pick up. They did the very opposite of what they promised. If they had even waited a week, they would have said okay, we didn’t do anything but the very next day, they shut down their supply. Which kind of bad faith is this? So my conclusion is that marketers just want Nigerians to suffer.”
It was a game the marketers and their acolytes in the industry have perfected over time – and they have always got their way because government would yield to their demands following outcry by Nigerians. The transition from a PDP –led executive to one led by the opposition APC has now thrown a spanner in that well-oiled wheel.
“Everyone understands what is going on. In a sane environment, most of these fuel importers wouldhave ended up behind bars for economic sabotage,” said Olufunmi Ayinla, an economist at the Public Policy Institute, Lagos. “What you are seeing is the outcome of a system run on deceit. Government officials have for too long colluded with the marketers to rob the country. Now that they are afraid of being punished, the game has unravelled. I think Nigerians should support the new administration to clean up the system, no matter the initial pains it might bring them.”
Over the past one month, Nigerians have battled an increasingly worsening fuel scarcity, as fuel marketers and distributors proffer one excuse or another for their refusal to supply the products.
Correspondingly, the number of black marketers has increased, with hawkers, including women and teens, found on the major roads selling fuel that could not be found at filling stations.
In Lagos, majority of filling stations have been barricaded and the few that had products are scenes of long queues. The situation has forced many car owners to park their vehicles at home, adding to the number of stranded commuters at major bus stops as few commercial vehicles on the road hiked their fares to remain afloat.
Incidentally, the effect of the four-week-old scarcity has also trickled down to how the city is lit at night and reduced noise pollution in most neighbourhoods, as only a few generating sets now run at night.
Scarcity won’t end this week
The oil marketers had, last week, warned that the scarcity may persist beyond May 29 if the federal government fails to pay their outstanding claims on subsidy. This is not likely to happen, going by Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s statement. Thus, the scarcity might be the first assignment that the incoming adminsitration would handle.
Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Obafemi Olawore, told journalists last week that the outstanding payment on subsidy and interest remained unpaid by government and that this hampers its members’ inability to import petroleum products.
“Because of the huge outstanding that we have; because we have not been able to pay back the loan we have taken, because our suppliers are not too confident, we are unable to bring fresh import,” he said.
Olawore said unless the over N200 billion that the government owes both MOMAN and DAPPMA was paid, the scarcity might remain.
Executive Secretary of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketing Association (DAPPMA), Olufemi Adewole, also claimed the federal government owes its members over N200 billion.
“We are not on strike. People are just painting us the way they want,” Olawore said. “We are not importing because we don’t have the money to buy the products. The government has not invited us. The only thing we have heard is the resolution of the Senate on Thursday and I think that they are going to invite us soon.”
Okonjo-Iweala said this was not sufficient reason for the refusal to trade.
“I cannot say that the cause of the problem we have today is because marketers are not paid. It cannot be because it is a rolling obligation. And we all know that throughout the year, marketers trade in, send to PPPRA what they have supplied, PPPRA vets it and it happens on a daily basis, so there is nothing like saying we have finished paying. There has never been one year since I came, where at any point in time, we reduced the obligation to zero and that is because even as you are doing it, a new one is rolling in. It is at the end of the year that we try to clear all outstanding and then roll into a new year,” she said.
What is clear is that the marketers and their mates in the Petroleum and National Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, appear to be alternating the pressure.
Last week, PENGASSAN and NUPENG announced a strike over what they said was the management of their pensions, leaving watchers bemused that the issue was coming up now. Other demands of the unions include the need for increased allocation of crude oil for local refining and improved work on Turn Around Maintenance of Nigeria’s four refineries.
“NUPENG was just rehearsing old, but time-tested excuses to pile more pressure on Nigerians,” Ayinla said. “They are trying to sway public opinion in their favour, when they are as guilty as the government they are blaming.”
Last Friday, NUPENG and PENGASSAN announced a suspension of its strike after a meeting with the petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke. But the effect is yet to be seen on the streets as fuel is still not being lifted.
The General Secretary of NUPENG, Isaac Aberare even subtly blamed a directive from the Lagos State on road traffic for the scarcity.
Black market dealers
One group that has benefitted from the induced scarcity, as in previous ones, is the army of jobless youth. These have now constituted themselves into well-remunerated middlemen, who buy fuel from the markers and sell it in cans to desperate Nigerians.
Right now, the surest way to get fuel is from ‘Black Market’ sellers, never mind the mystery behind how they got the fuel being sold to people at cut-throat amounts. Nigerians are, however, not happy about this and they’ve taken to Twitter to vent their frustration. Here are some of the tweets trending on social media:
Omotola Ekehinde: No light. No Fuel. No Diesel. Nigerians are silent hmm.
BEZ: At the airport. 7am flight is still pending. No Aviation fuel. Only 1 flight has left the airport.
Cindrella man: As a little boy, I held a funnel as my dad poured black market fuel into his 504. I am doing the same thing 2 decades later.
Owen Gee: 250 naira per litre for fuel? Black market turning red market market ooo. Kai which way Niegria? And electricity is totally zero.
Andre: N400 per litre of petrol on the black market. 4 km long, round the clock queue to buy it legally. How low we have sunk, how shamefully low.
Mo Eazy: Soo much back market fuel in VGC. Are these people getting fuel from their backyard ni? See this woman with multiple drums. lol.
Ebuka: Fuel stations in PH selling at a higher rate than black market sef.
Minkail: I will not lie, GEJ provided jobs. For black market people. 25 litre. 7k
Wle: NDLEA bought black market to go surround Buruju Kashamu house. Two wrongs don’t make a right…
A-KAY: Petrol is now N300/litre when petrol aint Chivita