Why fuel scarcity will not end soon –Marketers

The fuel scarcity situation, under which Nigerians have been groaning for some time now, may not go away soon, as it may still linger for some time.

This is because marketers have stopped importing products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol since December 2015.

Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) Olufemi Adewole, who made this known on Tuesday, said marketers stopped importation of products because of a $1 billion debt owed their creditors.

The debt burden he explained, has made the creditors to resort to ask to be paid in cash.

“It (fuel scarcity) is not something that will go in one day or two days; the situation has lingered for about two months now. So it could not go in one day. What we are working towards is to ensure that it disappears as fast as possible.”

Read also: Step down as Petroleum Minister, TUC tells Buhari

Adewole also said that the forex policy of the CBN has not made the situation easier, as his members have been unable to secure foreign exchange sue to the policy, which has also hampered them from importing products.

According to him, “Since December, we have not imported products. You will recall that NNPC has been importing about 78 percent, while 22 percent was allocated to DAPPMA, MOMAN and NIPCO.”

He also stated that though letters of allocation were issued to them by the NNPC, the have been unable to import fuel due to the unavailability of Forex.

“The letters of allocation were given to us, but we have not been able to secure foreign exchange due to government policy on FOREX.

“Consequently, exposure to our creditors has left us with a $1 billion debt”, he said.

 

 

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