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With the debilitating fuel scarcity taking its toll on Nigerians nationwide, President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a directive to the Ministry of FINANCE to pay with immediate effect all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.
This came as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday expressed outrage at the energy crisis, and blamed Jonathan and past Nigerian leaders for failing to fix the refineries.

However, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of FINANCE, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, rejected claims that the long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers, stating that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has issued N100 billion in Sovereign Debt Notes (SDNs) out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed upon with marketers as the next payment due to them.
She added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also given approval to the banks to open letters of credit (LCs) for oil marketers to facilitate the importation of petroleum products.

Sending out tweets from his Twitter handle, Buhari said present and past administrations had left Nigerians at the mercy of fuel importers by failing to fix the refineries.
He recalled that two of the four refineries in the country were built when he was petroleum minister in the late 1970s.
"The countless man hours that will be spent at petrol stations today, will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so," Buhari tweeted.
"In my time as NNPC chairman and Petroleum Minister in the late 70s, two of our four refineries were built, and domestic consumption catered for.
"But over the last several years our refineries have declined, and we are at the mercy of imports.
"We must reject a system that has turned one of world's largest crude exporters into an importer of petrol. Things must change," he said.
Joining Buhari in his criticism of the federal government, his party APC, blamed the fuel scarcity across the country on the administration's failure to pay outstanding fuel subsidy claims and the cost of interest on bank loans to oil marketers, thus making it impossible for them to import refined products.

The party also alleged that the crisis in the energy sector could be traced to the looting of the $12 billion domestic gas fund under Jonathan's watch.
In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity, describing it as "a most laughable and irresponsible statement by a sitting government that is always so eager to blame everyone but itself for the nation's woes".
It recalled that the "self-styled Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance" had in February promised to pay all subsidies owed to the marketers then in the sum of N264 billion, along with the accrued interest.
APC said the failure to meet this obligation has made it impossible for the oil marketers, who are being owed heavily, to finance another round of products imports.
"The truth is that this profligate government has run Nigeria aground, and the oil sector, whether upstream or downstream, has particularly suffered hugely. The quantity of petroleum products that was imported has almost been fully consumed, without fresh products being brought in to augment supplies that have now fallen well below re-order level.
"The implication is that in addition to worsening power supply, crumbling prices of oil at the international market, weakening naira and unprecedented corruption, Nigerians - who routinely provide their own electricity to power their homes and business - now have to face another round of government-imposed hardship with the ongoing fuel
scarcity," the party said.
It said the fuel crisis would not have reached this stage had the $12 billion domestic gas project fund not been looted under Jonathan's watch.
"This is because, with the project being executed, many vehicles, cooking stoves and generators would have been converted to use gas to reduce the importation of petrol, diesel and kerosene, and gas would have been available to fire the gas turbines at power stations while more power would have been delivered to the national grid," the party added.
APC accused Jonathan of sabotaging the domestic gas project started by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, with the $12 billion cash call provisions for gas development for domestic power generation looted under his (President Jonathan) watch.

However, Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday rejected the position of the APC, stating that long queues at petrol stations across the country were caused by the non-payment of outstanding subsidy claims to marketers.
The clarification came following claims by APC that marketers had held back supplies of petrol due to outstanding payment issues.
The minister, who spoke with journalists in her office, noted that contrary to some unfounded speculations, the queues were not related to payment issues.
According to her, the federal government was very concerned about the fuel queues, which have appeared in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.
"As Nigerians can attest, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) have worked very hard to reduce them to the barest minimum fuel shortages.
"We sympathise with Nigerians whose lives are being disrupted by the queues and assure them that we are working hard to end them as quickly as possible.
"The situation is due to a mix of factors, including disruption of pipelines and logistical issues and they are being attended to urgently," he minister said.
She recalled that the marketers were paid a total of N320.8 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in two installments last December, underscoring the fact that the government is taking the payment of marketers very seriously.
The minister said she held a meeting with the marketers last week where assurances and commitments were made to pay the outstanding N185 billion.

According to her, an agreement was reached with the marketers' union to the effect that government will pay not only the costs they have incurred and their fees but also interest and FOREIGN EXCHANGE differentials.
She added that DMO has issued SDNs to cover N100 billion out of the outstanding N185 billion agreed with oil marketers as the next payment due to them, even as the central bank has also given approval to the banks to open LCs for oil marketers.
The minister thanked the marketers who had already cued into the opening of LCs and have been supportive of the government's commitment to ensure the availability of petrol and other petroleum products.
"It is clear that while the union and most members have been cooperative, some of their members are not. Some of these people have even refused to open LCs to facilitate their payments.
"We salute the union and the members who are working hard to end this unfortunate situation. As for those who are working in the other direction, Nigerians should ask them what their motives are," she said.

Okonjo-Iweala stated that to end the unfortunate situation as quickly as possible, the Petroleum Ministry and NNPC were taking strong action to improve supplies in the election season.
"I've been speaking with MOMAN (Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria) and they've assured me that they are working hard to increase supplies and more vessels are on the way," she said.
She disclosed that 40 million litres of petrol was distributed in Lagos yesterday, adding that as at Monday, 86 trucks came into Lagos and another 86 trucks headed to Abuja.
"Other parts of the country are also included in the plans. So the situation should improve soon. Once again, we wish to express our sympathy with Nigerians for this very unsatisfactory situation and salute their patience as we work hard to end the situation as soon as possible," the minister said.

Also, providing further insight into the causes of the fuels queues in the country, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday blamed the fuel shortage on the CBN's devaluation of the naira between November and February.

Speaking while defending the agency's budget before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, told the committee that the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as the petroleum agency did not know the EXCHANGE RATE to be used for the importation of fuel.
In this regard, he said the marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost as a result of the devaluation, explaining that the old template used for paying the marketers had been overtaken by events.
However, Ahmed who explained that PPPRA had to seek the advice of the CBN before it could eventually draw up a new template added that the crisis had eventually been resolved, as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills that the marketers are being owed.
He also said the truce was brokered after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, PPPRA and other relevant agencies.
"The recent events had to do with delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for petrol to be delivered. What actually complicated it was the devaluation of naira - two times.
"The first one that took place on November 28 devalued the naira from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the EXCHANGE RATE to N198 to $1.
"These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now.
"The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one has been done now. Yesterday, we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the EXCHANGE RATE at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction," he said.

However, NNPC failed to appear before the committee to give its own side of the fuel scarcity story, prompting the committee chairman, Senator Magnus Abe, to read a riot act to the corporation.
He said: "We invited NNPC to come and defend their budget. They didn't show up. They don't even have the respect to give any response to the invitation.
"We are directing the clerk to re-invite the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Pipelines, Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) and all refineries.
"All of them must appear before this committee on Thursday. All of us have our roles in constitution. The letter should contain a strong warning that NNPC must never repeat this before the committee.
"NNPC has never agreed to bring their budget for discussion. This is the same problem we have every year. I'm disappointed that after we agreed on this issue last year, we are still back to it," Abe lamented.

Echoing Abe, Senator Danjuma Goje, said it was ridiculous that NNPC still had the audacity to ignore the committee's invitation despite "this acute shortage we have throughout this country. We know that NNPC has been spending money without appropriation.
"But then, courtesy demands that they honour our invitation. They are doing their work. We are also doing ours. With all the sad story of NNPC, they still have the guts to treat us with disrespect".

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