FG pays oil marketers, freezes interest on loan

CHIEF Operating Officer, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr Henry Ikem-Obih, has said the Federal Government has paid the agreed N236 billion as the first tranche of the outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.

Ikem-Obi, who disclosed this in an Interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, said that government, through the Central Bank, has directed banks to freeze interest on loans related to the scheme.

“Yes, I can confirm that the promissory note has been issued; in fact, they were ready on Wednesday. The marketers got emails inviting them to come and receive them on Monday.

“By the end of Tuesday, they were actually ready from the Debt Management Office (DMO). We had a meeting with the CBN Governor on Thursday and they were informed officially, the Director General of DMO was there that they should pick up the promissory note.

“Most of them were waiting for that meeting with the CBN governor, it went very well. One of the things that CBN governor has taken the initiative to do is to ask the banks to freeze the interest on any loan that is related to that scheme, the outstanding payment, from the end of June 2017 to date.

“Those are some of the additional concessions that government has done,’’ he said.

According to him, all the promissory notes for this first tranche will mature by 2019.

ALSO READ: NCC to fund technological research in tertiary institutions

“The CBN governor will give the Liquid assets status; so, it is as good as cash,’’ he added.

Commenting on petrol scarcity, he said that at the moment, the country had in stock 2.7 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) that would last for 54 days and still importing.

He noted that in terms of supply, the NNPC was very robust and had never been this good in the least 10 years, at this time of the year.

“We are very good with distribution in terms of how much products is on land because 2.8 billion litres is what is between Lagos waters and land.

“Most farm tanks cannot receive PMS at the moment; our vessels have to queue for days to be able to discharge to the storage.’’ He added

Also, petroleum products marketers had also confirmed receiving payment of N236 billion from the Federal Government for the first tranche of the outstanding fuel subsidy claims.

The Executive Secretary of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mr Olufemi Adewole, said, however, that the oil marketers still needed clarifications as regards the payments made by the Federal Government.

“Yes, we collected promissory notes, but we need clarification. DAPPMAN chief executive officers are reviewing the total scenarios and would meet with the Senate Committee, which has been of so much help to iron out things.”

He further confirmed that the payment was made via promissory notes, adding that DAPPMAN was already reviewing the situation.

He confirmed that the petroleum marketers would be meeting with the Senate Committee on Downstream to address other pending issues.