Oil Marketers Groan as Matured LCs, Unpaid Subsidy Claims Hit $2Bn Ejiofor Alike The capacity of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) to import petroleum products has continued to weaken as unpaid subsidy claims and matured Letters of Credit (LCs)
arising from the old subsidy regime hit $2 billion, THISDAY has learnt. THISDAY gathered that the huge debts, which grew as a result of rising cost of forex and the interest charges by banks that funded the
importation of the cargoes, have since forced foreign banks such as the Citi Bank of New York, BNP Paribas and others, which provided the LCs for the importation, to stop opening lines of credits for the fuel marketers.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, attested to the weakening capacity of the private marketers to import products when he said in Lagos recently that the country had returned to the era of the first and
second quarters of 2016 when the NNPC became the sole importer of products. According to him, the marketers resumed importation after the federal government partially liberalised the downstream sector in May
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2016, eliminating the subsidy regime and adjusting the pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per litre. However, the full participation of the marketers in importation could not be sustained following the rising cost of forex and the accumulation of unpaid Continued on page 89
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No Alternative to Democracy, Say Saraki, Dogara, Tinubu, Others Osinbajo addresses the nation today Omololu Ogunmade, Damilola Oyedele, James Emejo and Senator Iroegbu in Abuja In spite of the biting economic hardship, political leaders yesterday appealed to Nigerians to persevere some more, saying there was light at the end of the tunnel and that there was no alternative to democratic rule in the country.
The appeal comes as Acting President Yemi Osinbajo addresses the nation this morning on the midterm scorecard of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, told THISDAY in a Continued on page 12
...Akpabio: Why APC Failed
Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja
The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal federal government failed to deliver on the basic needs of Nigerians in the last two years because it lacked the experience and technical-knowhow to administer the country.
The former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, who stated this in an exclusive interview with THISDAY in Abuja, said that rather than focus on how to fulfil its campaign promises to the Nigerian people, the ruling party spent two years blaming PDP for its failure to perform. Continued on page 89
IT'S CELEBRATION TIME… Lagos Court Bars LGs from Acting President Yemi Osinbajo flanked (L-R) by Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Dr. Oluranti Adebule; Governor Akinwunmi former governors, Brig-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson (rtd.), Senator Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Lateef Jakande; and Mrs Abimbola Issuing Marriage Certificate... Page 12 Ambode; Jakande at the Lagos @50 gala night in Lagos… Saturday