SUSBSIDY:

•    Urges FG To Settle Pay Subsidy Claims

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to pay its members their outstanding subsidy claims to enable them import enough petrol into the country.
Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, Chairman of IPMAN, Mosinmi Depot Chapter, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
 He said the timely payment of the claims and importation of adequate petrol would help prevent an impending product scarcity as most depots would run out of stock within two weeks.
He said most depots in the Apapa area had begun experiencing product scarcity, adding that trucks at the depots now stayed too long on queues to “load products that is not available’’.
 “The pressure will continue to mount. For example, most depots in Apapa do not have the products, but since people have stock in their stations, you will not notice it now, but there is already pressure.
“You see, demand has been so high in the last three, four, five days, which means something is in the offing.
“You won’t notice it now, but in the next two to three weeks you will notice it, because people are still having stock, and this is rainy season; the demand is not very high at this time.’’
Tajudeen said the situation in the country called for divine intervention, adding: “we are battling with subsidy probe, now it is importation of products, when are we going to recover from all these?
“Whenever there is any probe in Nigeria you find out that at the end of the day you won’t get to hear anything about it.
“We are told that we have almost consumed the subsidy for the year, at the middle of the year, so which means there is a problem, which means that there is a problem.
“So, there is a looming problem, because if they don’t import, naturally there is going to be scarcity of petroleum products.
“So, the implication is, if the monies are not paid, there is going to be scarcity; no doubt about that. It has even stated because for now, the supply had not been very adequate.’’
 He, however, advised the government to deregulate the petroleum sector if the policy would ease the problem of importation.