A fresh round of fuel crisis seems set to start as snaking queues appeared at filling stations in Abuja yesterday, apparently in reaction to oil workers' strike and a threat by marketers to stop imports until government pays them their subsidy claims.
The fuel queues began building up just days before the start of the Eid el-Fitr holidays which begin at the weekend. National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers yesterday began an indefinite strike in the FCT while oil marketers issued a week's ultimatum for government to pay them N200 billion in subsidy backlog.
But the Federal Government called the marketers' bluff, saying they were only resorting to blackmail because they were indicted in a subsidy probe committee report.
NUPENG said it was going on strike to protest government's refusal to start implementation of an agreement signed by the two parties on July 27 regarding payment of subsidy claims and other issues.
Chairman of the Oil and Gas Branch of NUPENG Mr. Benneth Korie told journalists that the action will progress to a nationwide strike if the government refuses to start implementation after the holidays.
In Abuja city, long queues were seen in the few filling stations that were dispensing with some motorists engaging in panic buying.
Black marketers also had a field day, selling petrol at prices higher than the approved rates.
Korie said NUPENG had to embark on the action to persuade government to resume payment of subsidy arrears for 2012 and its inability to fix most of the deplorable road network used as channels for the distribution of petroleum products by its members.
He said government had signed an agreement affirming that the payment of subsidy backlog had commenced and pending issues would be concluded within two weeks.
But Korie said no action has been taken since then on the payment and on the turnaround maintenance of refineries.
As NUPENG began its strike yesterday, unions in the downstream petroleum sector said there will be fuel supply crisis in the country if the Federal Government refuses to settle their N200 billion outstanding subsidy claims in the next one week.
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) made the announcement in a public notice.
The unions "warn the Federal Government of Nigeria and the general public of an impending fuel supply crisis within the next seven days, due to the failure of the Federal Ministry of Finance to reimburse us our legitimate subsidy claims since January 2012."
The notice was signed by T.O. Olawole, MOMAN executive secretary; Mike Osatuyi, IPMAN executive secretary; Ikem Ohia, DAPPMA secretary and Enock B. Kanawa, JEPTFON executive secretary.
"Our member companies are under threat of being driven into extinction due to the non-payment of the huge sums of legitimate money due to them that have been verified under the subsidy scheme by the Federal Government," they said.
The unions said the N21 billion and N30 billion earmarked for the outstanding payments every month to private sector and NNPC respectively, "can only pay for claims for seven cargoes (of 30, 000MT) against 26 cargoes per month at 35 million litres per day consumption."
Pure blackmail
But the Federal Government yesterday said the marketers were only trying to blackmail government because of their indictment by the Aig-Imokhuede subsidy probe committee.
"The claim by some marketers that they have embarked on strike because the Federal Government has failed to pay them for fuel imports is not accurate," Minister of State for Finance Yerima Ngama told reporters in Abuja.
"For instance between April and May 2012, batches D/12 and E/13 involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of 17 billion were fully settled through the issuance of sovereign debts notes and other relevant documentation.
"In addition since the directive by the coordinating minister to the Debt Management Office (DMO) to continue payments of all verified claims, N25.6 billion worth of claims has been fully settled with the issuance of sovereign debts notes.
"In all, between April and August 2012, in respect of PMS claims, Sovereign Debts Notes amounting to 42.66 billion have been issued to 31 oil marketers.'"
He added: "Against this background, it is clear that the strike was instigated mainly by marketers who were indicted by the Aig-Imokhuede Committee, which investigated fuel subsidy payments.
"Their obvious intention is to blackmail the Federal Government in order to escape the sanctions for the crimes they have committed. Nigerians should not be deceived by their antics."
Ngama said "such tactics would not succeed" because the Federal Government was determined to prosecute persons and organisation found culpable in the fuel subsidy regime payments.
Daily Trust