The Federal Government on Sunday called on oil marketers to be patriotic in their decisions by considering the interest of Nigerians who always bear the brunt of their actions, noting that they should not by their actions hold the country to ransom.

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while speaking with journalists in Abuja said contrary to claims by the marketers that they were being owed about N200bn after being paid N156bn last week, what is being owed them is about N131bn.

The marketers had claimed that the government’s indebtedness to them for oil subsidy was about N354,4bn.

Confirming the figure, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, had said, “The government had paid N154.2bn out of N354.4bn and we are left with a balance of N200.2bn.

“What happens to the N200.2bn? That is why we requested that the government invites us so that we can be told how it intends to liquidate the remaining N200.2bn.”

But the minister said this figure could not be correct, noting that the balance that is left based on Petroleum Pricing Products Regulatory Agency’s template is about N131bn.

She said, “As you know, we paid N156bn recently, N100bn of the principle payment that we owe them and then we paid N56bn interest rate and some remaining exchange rate differentials.

“Prior to that, we have just paid N31bn exchange rate differentials. So at the time we paid that last week, what we had outstanding is N98bn.”

According to her, every week, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency sends data and that is what government only subscribe and certified as what is due to marketers.

“As at now, since we made the announcement last week, it has now risen from N98bn to N131bn outstanding in principle payment.

“And they are now making a demand of N200bn and I asked them what is the balance for,” she added.

She likened the oil marketers to a small cartel that are into a no risk business based on template negotiated with PPPRA long time ago which factored in exchange rate differential, and profit margin guarantee.

This situation, she said, leaves them with absolutely no risk.

She said. “It has become a situation where we have a cartel that can ground the nation to a halt at will. I strongly suggest that the nation has to do something about it.



http://www.punchng.com/news/dont-hold-nigeria-to-ransom-fg-warns-oil-marketers/

Don't worry we won't hold Nigeria at Ransom, it's just that we wanna make tripple gain..

in case

It has become a situation where we have a cartel that can ground the nation to a halt
at will. I strongly suggest that the nation has to do something about it.

I can't just imagine how idiotic this so called "coordinating minister of the economy" sounds. Who is "the nation" that is supposed to do something about it. What is her mandate as the number One minister? What are the actions she's been taking to mitigate the excesses of the marketers since this isn't new??

What a useless economic crew.

Why was this not handled before it became worse?

Ransom kuti

omenka:
I can't just imagine how idiotic this so called "coordinating minister of the economy" sounds. Who is "the nation" that is supposed to do something about it. What is her mandate as the number One minister? What are the actions she's been taking to mitigate the excesses of the marketers since this isn't new??

What a useless economic crew.

it nt easy to deal wit those cabals... The best way to hav dealt with d cabals was to stop subsidy payment and u and i are witness to wat happend wen govt tried it during GEJ tenure.... D masses ignorantly followed d cabals in ensuring their biz continued. I hop d incoming administration wil hav d hart to successfully stop this subsidy payment once and for all

Sandydayz:
Why was this not handled before it became worse?

my dear they tried doing that earlier at d beginning of their tenure, it nt easy to deal wit those cabals... The best way to
hav dealt with d cabals was to stop subsidy payment
and u and i are witness to wat happend wen govt tried
it during GEJ tenure.... D masses ignorantly followed d
cabals in ensuring their biz continued. I hop d incoming
administration wil hav d hart to successfully stop this
subsidy payment once and for all

Sometimes i ask my self are there people bigger than goverment

SirRoberto:
it nt easy to deal wit those cabals... The best way to hav dealt with d cabals was to stop subsidy payment and u and i are witness to wat happend wen govt tried it during GEJ tenure.... D masses ignorantly followed d cabals in ensuring their biz continued. I hop d incoming administration wil hav d hart to successfully stop this subsidy payment once and for all

You guys are missing the whole point. The masses didn't ignorantly follow anybody, they took a stand that was best for them which is the retention of the payment of subsidies.

Subsidy payment isn't a bad idea, the problem rather lies with the government and her agencies that have become iredeemably corrupted resulting in the payment of claims for nonexistent imports. Was it not revealed during the hearings of the HoR that tens of billions of naira were paid to people as subsidy claims when they didn't even import a single drop of fuel?? Didn't we hear about ships that brought in products while at the same time the wreckage of those ships have been lying at the bottom of the ocean for decades, forming nice little coral sights for marine life? What about round tripping? Do you think this would have been possible without the active connivance of government agents

What the government needs to do is not getting rid of the policy, but enhancing monitoring and overall efficiency of the system. This way, payments would be made to only genuine claims and we wouldn't end up having an over bloated expenditure on subsidy. I'm pretty much sure if that is done we'd see a reduction in this expenditure of not less 50%.

You can't cut off the head just to spite the body.

Shame on all those that participated in the #occupynigeria protest.
We would have killed these "cabals" 4 years ago.

Now the cancer has grown to these unimaginable degree

omenka:
You guys are missing the whole point. The masses didn't ignorantly follow anybody, they took a stand that was best for them which is the retention of the payment of subsidies.

Subsidy payment isn't a bad idea, the problem rather lies with the government and her agencies that have become iredeemably corrupted resulting in the payment of claims for nonexistent imports. Was it not revealed during the hearings of the HoR that tens of billions of naira were paid to people as subsidy claims when they didn't even import a single drop of fuel?? Didn't we hear about ships that brought in products while at the same time the wreckage of those ships have been lying at the bottom of the ocean for decades, forming nice little coral sights for marine life? What about round tripping? Do you think this would have been possible without the active connivance of government agents

What the government needs to do is not getting rid of the policy, but enhancing monitoring and overall efficiency of the system. This way, payments would be made to only genuine claims and we wouldn't end up having an over bloated expenditure on subsidy. I'm pretty much sure if that is done we'd see a reduction in this expenditure of not less 50%.

You can't cut off the head just to spite the body.

my dear, i agree that subsidy is a good policy buh it is killing d economy and making few rich, the president or minister isnt d person on field to monitor every process to ensure transparency. This corrupt system has been on for a long time and these cabals wil gang up against any govt that wil block their way that is y uprooting their means is better than fighting to checkmate them which will take a lot of time, resources and distraction of d govt. Removal of d subsidy wil put pressure on d ppl n govt to ensure there are private n govt refineries that are working. Nig economy will crumble if we continue wit this subsidy payment. Anyway, d best time to remove subsidy is nw that d price of crude has come down.