.We’re Dying, They Cry Out
By Chinyere ARUOGU
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has cried out to the Federal Government to pay the outstanding fuel subsidy claims to its members to enable them pay back their bank loans, indicating that they are dying.
Obafemi Olawore, Executive Secretary of the association, who made the plea on Wednesday, June 21 in Lagos, said some oil marketers had on June 18 appealed to the Federal Government to pay their outstanding debts of $2 billion (N720 billion) owed on importation of petrol products and the accrued interests on bank loans.
Olawore noted that the immediate payment of the accumulated subsidy claims would save the banks from total liquidation over the huge debts owed them by the marketers.
He said the delay in repayment of the debts owed the banks by his members had led to retrenchment in the banking and the oil and gas sectors.
His words: “We (marketers) are afraid that if the money is not paid on time, this may attract the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over our businesses. The debts had imparted grossly on marketers, while only very few marketers are presently importing insignificant quantity of petroleum products into the country.’
Olawore also said that the plea had become necessary to avert the scarcity of petroleum products in the country, adding that inability of the marketers to import fuel had impacted negatively on loading activities at the Apapa and Dockyard private depots.
Olawore accused the NNPC of becoming the sole importer of petroleum products, while marketers were queue to get the products on credit from the refineries.
Explaining that the Federal Government paid over N300 million daily as fuel subsidy, Olawore said anytime there was problem in the banking sector, it was always traced to the oil sector, because of the unpaid loans the marketers borrowed.
“Once we (marketers) are unable to pay, the banks will have problems,’’ he added.
Olawore maintained that some banks might be having problem with their correspondence banks abroad due to the unpaid loans, saying “This can have negative effects on the financial sector’s stability, which is not good for the economy. A situation where the banks are being owed N800 billion constitute major threat to the continuous existence of the sector.”