Petroleum dealers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMMA) and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria have debunked media reports that they have commenced sacking of workers as a result of the delay in the payment of their N650bn owed by the Federal Government.
The Executive Secretary, DAPMMA, Olufemi Adewole, stated this while speaking to Punch. He said he was not aware of any worker that had been sacked as a result of the government’s failure to clear the debt.
“I can’t confirm any information that I don’t have the facts about. But to the best of my knowledge, the suspension of the ultimatum was to give the government enough time to quickly send the papers to the National Assembly and for the legislators to pass the appropriation so that the Federal Government can pay marketers.
“So, I want to believe that that is where we stand for now because I don’t have any information on whether anybody has laid off staff. However, I’m equally aware that our members are in a dire straight. They are cash strapped right now and that is why we are pressurising government to quickly process our payments and pay marketers off.”
He however disclosed that oil marketers were waiting for the National Assembly to resume from their Easter break in order to pressurize them into approve the appropriation covering the debt.
“We were told that the President has signed the appropriation and has approved the document from the Federal Executive Council and that it has been sent to the National Assembly. But based on the information we have, it was apparently sent just before the Easter break. So they’ve actually not read it at plenary and we are looking forward to them reading it by next week Wednesday or so and then we will follow up from there.”
He however said payment of the money was not a guarantee that the marketers would resume importation of petroleum products.
“Importing petrol is not as if you just go to the depot, load and come out. If you are importing petrol, you’ll agree with your supplier in Amsterdam or Europe or Russia, you nominate a vessel, they give you a date that you are going to load the vessel, you then load the vessel and it takes about two weeks for it to come to Nigeria.
“And first and foremost, the money has to be paid but right now, the money is still not there. We don’t have the money to do all that. We’ve suspended the ultimatum but marketers still don’t have the money to import.
“If the money is paid and the price is okay, in other words, if we bring it in and the landing cost is not above N145 per litre, then we can go ahead and import. Even if the money is paid today and the landing cost is above N145, we still cannot import.”
