Respite will not come the way of motorists soon as Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) warms up for a strike that will compound the present petrol crisis.
The Association has given the federal government a 14-day ultimatum to settle a N650 billion debt owed its members.
The money is the outstanding subsidy claims inherited by the government from the previous administration.
The association warned that it would be forced to shut all its depots and disengage workers if the government failed to settle the debt within the period given.
The Executive Secretary of the Association, Mr Olufemi Adewole, gave the 14-day ultimatum in a statement issued in Lagos.
Adewole said members did not have any other option to solve the problem of increasing debt burdens of borrowing to pay staff than to immediately commence massive staff disengagement.
“The unfortunate primary fallout of this step is the likely shut down of all DAPPMAN depots nationwide due to lack of manpower to operate same pending the time the Federal Government will pay off its indebtedness to petroleum marketers.
”This unfortunately will have a multiplier effect on the nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products which presently is still a struggle,’’ he said.
Adewole said that a letter was written to the presidency on Jan. 24, but government failed to respond to the plight of petroleum marketers, many of whom have become financially insolvent.
“We are continually under pressure from our banks/AMCON, with looming threats of imminent take-over of our petrol stations and tank farms.
”In the light of the above and after exhausting all formal avenues to secure payment of these debts, we have given government notice to the likelihood of disengaging our personnel.
”The unfortunate primary fallout of this step is the likely shut down of all DAPPMAN depots nationwide due to lack of manpower to operate same pending the time the government will pay off its indebtedness to petroleum marketers.
”This, unfortunately, will have a multiplier effect on the nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products which presently is still a struggle,’’ he said.
According to him, this letter serves as a reminder and an opportunity for government and its agencies to speedily approve and pay off its remaining subsidy era indebtedness to all the association’s members and all petroleum marketing companies.
In an initial letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, DAPPMAN said members could no longer access bank funds for their operations and gave a 21-day notice beginning January 24 before it would lay off workers.
It also said that lending banks in conjuction with the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) are in the process of auctioning the properties provided by marketers as security for loans.
“These debts came about as a result of:
1. The foreign exchnage differentials which arose as a reult of the initial devaluation of the naira (by the last administration) from the initial N165/$
“2. The interest componnent that arose due to delayed reimbursemnet also by the same administration which the federal government had approved for payment to marketers but which was not fully settled by the appropriate federal governmnet agencies.
“3. The second forex differential component and obviously the largest chunk is due to the last but further devaluation of the naira from N195 to N305 to $1, while he federal government agencies had based their reimbursement calculation on N197/$; this devaluation left petroleum marketers within our association with additional unplanned debt burden in excess of N300bn.
“As a result of 1, 2 & 3 above, the downstream sector as a whole, has been saddled with a debt burden of over N650bn which keeps rising alongside the previous debts because the banks keep charging interests and will continue to do so until the total debt is fully liquidated.”
TheCable
