The Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON), representing fuel importers, said yesterday it would shut down jetties and depots from July 23 if the government did not pay outstanding gasoline subsidy payments, which are a massive drain on the country.

President Goodluck Jonathan tried to end fuel subsidies on January 1, prompting more than a week of strikes and protests after the petrol price more than doubled. Jonathan ended the strikes by partially reinstating the subsidy.

The Finance Ministry said on June 20 it had cleared all outstanding subsidy payments following a pause to carry out a probe into the fuel marketers. The ministry was not available for comment on Friday.

The Minister of State for Finance said in June Nigeria only had N370 billion ($2.29 billion) left to pay subsidies, out of the 888 billion in the 2012 budget.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the subsidy budget will run out well before the end of the year, which means they will need to raid savings to pay for it. Powerful state governors have said they will take the federal government to court for what they call “illegal” over-budget subsidy payments.

The fuel importers’ union, according to Reuters, said the government’s non-payment of fuel subsidies was a breach of contract.

“Until the above demands are met, the association has no option but to shut down its operations nationwide and suspend workers with effect from July 23,” a JEPTFON statement said.

A strike by JEPTFON staff and shut down of its operations could result in fuel shortages because Nigeria relies on imports for most of its gasoline and diesel needs.

Fuel marketers said on July 2 they might stop importing fuel into Africa’s most populous nation for the third quarter of the year due to outstanding subsidy payments of N200 billion .

A parliamentary probe into the subsidy scheme in April found it was riddled with fraud that had cost Nigeria $6.8 billion in just three years - equal to a quarter of the national budget. It was one of the biggest corruption scandals in the history of Africa’s top energy producer.

OLAJOMO: Another bad news in Naija.

bennyraz: The hand work of otedola

bennyraz: The hand work of otedola

Mayor Ogwo: I think it's high time we accepted the subsidy removal so as to suffer once and enjoy later, removal of oil subsidy is the answer to such a looming chaos...

Mayor Ogwo: I think it's high time we accepted the subsidy removal so as to suffer once and enjoy later, removal of oil subsidy is the answer to such a looming chaos...

Billyonaire: Why are you people complaining ? When we said Subsidy should be stopped, the uninformed went into the streets and protested, now the cycle continues. Subsidy has to be stopped for us to make any headway as a country. Make i shut-up sef before I get insulted my morons.

Billyonaire: Why are you people complaining ? When we said Subsidy should be stopped, the uninformed went into the streets and protested, now the cycle continues. Subsidy has to be stopped for us to make any headway as a country. Make i shut-up sef before I get insulted my morons.

jp philips:

you remove subsidy then what? Jonathan will become a genius or madueke will become a pastor? why is common sense a luxury in Nigeria?

femi4: That can never be the solution, cos it will not repair bad roads, improve power supply etc. We can never enjoy later with or without subsidy removal when the leaders in charge of our resources are criminals

lookmangiw: Honestly speaking, i dont want subsidy payment on PMS. I dont want any government to be paying for my gasoline useage but the problem i have is the sincerity of this criminals we called government towards this policy. The subsidy was partially removed, 141- 97=#34*37million daily consumption, what has happened to that savings since january? The capital expenditure could hardly get to 15% implementation. Is this the same folks will entrust full removal of subsidy upon? This people are not ready to do anything, the price of diesel have never go down since it was deregulated those it mean that the price did not at a time drop at the international market. In conclusion, since i cant trust this government,then i can never support the removal of fuel subsidy.

lookmangiw: are they not justified now, big slowpoke. Any impact on the lifes of the citizenry with the savings they ought to have made with the partial removal of the fuel subsidy. Keep selling your birthright for a plate of pottage.

dedeike:

You re the one who lacks common sense. Fuel subsidy regime is a bane to our development.
First, the idea of using almost one quarter of your national budget to subsidize one single commodity is fundamentally faulty. No economy thrives under that kind of arrangement.

Secondly, it is difficult, given our bad public sector attitude, to use NNPC to build and manage more refineries. We have tried it severally in the past and it ain't working. Successive govts in Nigeria have wasted trillions of Naira in turn around maintenance. It's more lucrative for a govt that wants to corruptly enrich itself to award more contracts fr such turn around maintenance and benefit massively from it. But who manages the refineries afterwards? NNPC?

Thirdly, we need private sector investments in refineries. And for you to achieve this, you need to discourage importation. And for you to discourage importation, you have to remove subsidy so that importation will be less attractive.
No private sector investor will be willing to invest in a sector where prices are fixed by govt.
No private sector investor will take the pains to undertake the long term projects of constructing refineries where his competitors are making quick money from importing PMS and collecting subsidy claims.
So we find ourselves in a fix. No progress. No movement.

Mandelaguy: Partial subsidy removal still takes us through those channels of embezzlement ,continuous cycle,and poor development.
1. It will not encourage growth and competition in the oil sector
2. It will not encourage private sector participation
3. It will encourage endless cycles of payment,diversion and sharp practices
4. Morons who misled us will keep presenting themselves as national heroes
5. There will be steady decline in productivity and most of us will keep complaining even when we know the truth

I have never been an advocate for subsidy pamen,and I am happy that mos of my friends that termed me an enem when I was emoved ae wiser now,wiser in the sense ha the scales fell off their eyes when the level of scam and corruption in the name of subsid payment was revealed. Now,are we not going o make a clean break from the monster tha has been breeding evil n ha sector? By now,importation would have been toall a thing of the past,govt will not hae anybody threatening strike or close down,private refineries would have started sprouting all over the nation.....need I say more? A word he say ...........

dedeike:

You re the one who lacks common sense. Fuel subsidy regime is a bane to our development.
First, the idea of using almost one quarter of your national budget to subsidize one single commodity is fundamentally faulty. No economy thrives under that kind of arrangement.

Secondly, it is difficult, given our bad public sector attitude, to use NNPC to build and manage more refineries. We have tried it severally in the past and it ain't working. Successive govts in Nigeria have wasted trillions of Naira in turn around maintenance. It's more lucrative for a govt that wants to corruptly enrich itself to award more contracts fr such turn around maintenance and benefit massively from it. But who manages the refineries afterwards? NNPC?

Thirdly, we need private sector investments in refineries. And for you to achieve this, you need to discourage importation. And for you to discourage importation, you have to remove subsidy so that importation will be less attractive.
No private sector investor will be willing to invest in a sector where prices are fixed by govt.
No private sector investor will take the pains to undertake the long term projects of constructing refineries where his competitors are making quick money from importing PMS and collecting subsidy claims.
So we find ourselves i

n a fix. No progress. No movement.