Fuel queues expected to disappear before weekend - FG

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Minister of Finance)

The Federal Government on Wednesday assured Nigerians that the current petrol scarcity being experienced in various parts of the country would be over before the end of the week.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated this shortly after meeting with members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria held at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja. The meeting was also attended by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, representatives of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and depot owners.

The minister said all the contentious issues with the marketers such as the foreign exchange rate differentials and payment of subsidy arrears had been addressed by the Federal Government.

She said while the details of the payment of the exchange rate differentials had been agreed, the government was already in the process of offsetting the N185bn debt owed the marketers with the issuance of the Sovereign Debt Note.

The Finance Minister said: “In the next few days, the queues will dissipate; the situation will be addressed and everything will return to normal.” "At the Federal Executive Council meeting today, the issue was discussed in terms of pushing forward and making sure that things get back to normal.”

She said while briefing State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting that after proper briefings on the causes of the current scarcity of petrol and solutions, President Goodluck Jonathan gave specific instructions on how to deal with the matter because he wanted prompt and quick action to improve the situation as fast as possible.

She insisted that the scarcity was caused by a number of factors, including the depreciation of the naira.

Okonjo-Iweala said, “We discussed that (fuel scarcity) at the FEC because Mr. President wanted prompt and quick action to improve the situation as fast as possible. So, after the briefing and discussion on both the financial and physical side, what emanated is that this situation we hope will soon be resolved, because on the financial side, action has been taken and it is being implemented through the Ministry of Finance and the Governor of the CBN.

“Let it be known that in December, we paid N320.2bn to marketers to settle their claims. We have now approved through the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency about N185bn to be paid to the marketers through Sovereign Debt Notes, which is tantamount to having government guarantee that they will be paid.

“But the long and short of the matter is that the financial issue has been taken care of. The physical quantity is being loaded to be brought to Abuja and Lagos and other cities that are suffering so that hopefully tomorrow (Thursday) or next (Friday), we should begin to see these queues reduce as supplies arrive up to Saturday; we hope that Abuja will be cleared.