NON-PAYMENT OF SUBSIDY CLAIMS RESPONSIBLE FOR FUEL SCARCITY-PPMC

The Management of Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, has said that the lingering fuel scarcity in the country is as a result of the non-payment of subsidy claims to oil marketers.

Prince Haruna Momoh, Managing Director of PPMC, who made this known in his submission before the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream in Abuja, said marketers have suspended importation of petroleum products to the country.

Momoh said management believed that the cause of the recent shortage in fuel supply is based on the information provided by Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, that lack of subsidy payment was the reason they suspended importation of petroleum products to the country.

He further said that with the recent payment of subsidy claims amounting to about N41 billion for the third and fourth quarters of 2013, marketers have commenced supply to the market.

Momoh affirmed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and its downstream subsidiary, PPMC, is working tirelessly to ensure that fuel is supplied and distributed across the country.

He noted that the current fuel scarcity in the country is abating because the NNPC/PPMC and other marketers are working together to supply fuel to the market.