Nigerian fuel marketers say they are working to ease shortages

THERE are indications that fuel marketers, may have agreed to distribute fuel brought in by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, after talking with the new administration last weekend.


This is as many petrol stations in Lagos still sell above the official pump price of N87, as other cities are still suffering from shortages despite the end of a fuel distribution strike.

After the negotiation last weekend, fuel is expected to become available not just at NNPC retail stations but those owned by major and independent marketers to reduce the queues of double-parked cars.

Nigeria now depends wholly on swapping its crude for fuel imports, Obafemi Olawore, Executive Secretary for Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) said, as those waiting for subsidy payments are unable to secure commercial loans to bring in fresh supplies.”At the moment we are unable to import because we don’t have the support from the banks,” Olawore told Reuters.

Olawore said MOMAN had contact with President Muhammadu Buhari’s new government and was optimistic that payments of around 291 billion naira (nearly $1.5 billion) promised in writing by the outgoing administration will be honoured.