LONG fuel queues have resurfaced in most of the petrol stations in Abuja and its environs, due to non-payment of subsidy claims to oil marketers by the Federal Government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that there were long queues of vehicles in some petrol stations in Abuja, on Wednesday, while others were locked.

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had earlier warned that there would be fuel scarcity if their claims were not paid.

Accordingly, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farms Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) gave similar warning.

The associations, on Wednesday, gave the warning in an advertorial, entitled “Warning of Imminent Fuel Crises in Nigeria.”

They called on the Ministry of Finance to pay their legitimate subsidy claims within seven days or risk fuel supply crises.

MOMAN’s executive secretary, Mr Obafemi Olawore, told NAN that its members were yet to be paid subsidy claims for the year, despite assurances from the Federal Government.

He appealed to government to immediately pay their claims, so as to avoid fuel crises.

However, Mr Ibrahim Isa, the station manager of Conoil petrol station, Central Area, said the queues started building up on Tuesday, due to the inability to get petroleum product from the Suleja depot.

He attributed the scarcity to the strike by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and other unions over non-payment of their claims.

Mr Boniface Agla, a civil servant, criticised the long queues of vehicles in petrol stations in different parts of the country and called on the NNPC to address the problem.

Reacting, the Federal Government said the fuel queues witnessed in some petrol stations in Abuja was instigated by indicted oil marketers.

Addressing the media, shortly after the July meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Lawan Yerima Ngama, disclosed that the claim that some marketers had embarked on strike because government had failed to pay them for fuel import was not accurate.

According to him, the true position was that the Federal Government had been meeting its obligations to oil marketers in respect of all legitimate claims.

The minister claimed that between April and May, batches D/12 and E/12 involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of N17 billion were fully settled, through the issuance of sovereign debt notes and other relevant documentation.

Ngama said since the directive by the Coordina-tinmg Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Oko-njo-Iweala, to the DMO to continue payments of all verified claims, N25.6 billion worth of claims had been fully settled with the issuance of sovereign debt notes.

He stated further that between April and August, in respect of 2012 petrol claims, sovereign debt notes amounting to N42.666 billion had been issued to 31 oil marketers.

Weirdone: All these stories they are giving us daily is dis-heartening... all we need is fuel, the queue in my area has formed the letter 'W'.

King Solomon I: FCT Zone1

King Solomon I: FCT Zone1

King Solomon I: there should be ways to stop the balls grabbing inorder to get things done... Something shuld be done urgently before the queue enters my room.