In fulfillment of its promise, the Federal Government has paid the agreed N236 billion as first tranche of the outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.
The Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr Henry Ikem-Obih, who disclosed this on Monday said that government through the Central Bank, had directed banks to freeze interest on loans related to the scheme as part of its efforts to mitigate the loan repayment burden on the marketers.
He clarified: “I can confirm that the promissory note has been issued; in fact, they were ready on Wednesday. The marketers got emails inviting them to come and receive them on Monday.
“By the end of Tuesday, they were actually ready from the Debt Management Office (DMO). We had a meeting with the CBN Governor on Thursday and they were informed officially, the Director General of DMO was there that they should pick up the promissory note.
“Most of them were waiting for that meeting with the CBN governor, it went very well. one of the things that CBN governor has taken the initiative to do is to ask the banks to freeze the interest on any loan that are related to that scheme, the outstanding payment, from end of June 2017 to date”, Ikem-Obih added.
While confirming that the promissory notes for this first tranche will mature by 2019, the corporation’s COO said that the CBN governor would give the liquid assets status thereby making the payment as good as cash.
Ikem-Obih restated the corporation’s commitment to adequate petroleum products supply based on the current stock of 2.7 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and efficient products’ distribution system.
He maintained: “We are very good with distribution in terms of how much products is on land because 2.8 billion litres is what is between Lagos waters and land. Most farm tanks cannot receive PMS at the moment; our vessels have to queue for days to be able to discharge to the storage.’’
Commenting on the subsidy claims payment by the government, the Executive Secretary of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mr Olufemi Adewole, confirmed that the N236 billion first tranche had been paid, adding that the oil marketers still need some clarifications.
According to him, despite collecting the promissory notes, the association’s leaders are reviewing the total scenarios and would also like to meet with the Senate Committee on Downstream to update it on the latest development and other pending issues,
