Outstanding debts to oil marketers by the Federal Government has hit a whopping N470 billion, arising mostly from a backlog of unpaid subsidy claims since August 1, 2014 till date.
This is as the marketers insist they require in excess of $2 billion dollars to pay off their foreign suppliers, otherwise they will not be able to continue to import more petroleum products into the country.
Marketers lamented that government has not been able to fulfil its promise to offset all outstanding marketers’ claims between October and second week in November, in addition to the assurances by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to assist marketers in accessing dollars to pay off their foreign suppliers which has yet to be realised.
“We had another meeting with the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo) two weeks ago and he promised that they would pay us. Right now I can tell you that no marketer has any money or line of credit to import even one litre of fuel.
“The last time any marketer was paid claims was July 31, 2014. Since August 1, 2014, no marketer has received anything. The total outstanding claims between August 1 and now are about N470 billion.
“Even if they paid all the N470 billion, it will still not be enough to pay off our foreign suppliers because the dollar value of what we require to offset matured debts is over $2 billion. The CBN Governor promised to help us, but nothing has happened,” said a marketer.
Another marketer also disclosed on telephone that the situation is so critical that in the last one week, two oil marketing companies have sacked 90 workers, adding that others are laying off secretly on daily basis, thereby compounding an already saturated labour market.
“If marketers continue to lay off workers, soon the unions will soon swoop down on us and begin another crisis.”
