OpeOluwani Akintayo
10 December 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Following talks with the federal government on Monday, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, DAPPMA said it has suspended its plan to shut down operations across the country for five days.
In a statement on Monday by the group’s Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole in Lagos, he said the move was as a result of “interventions from well-meaning Nigerians”.
The DAPPMAN and others, with the exception of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, had threatened to shut down their depots due to the inability of the government to pay up the N800 billion subsidy arrears owed their members.
“Recall the association had issued a shut-down directive to our members following the continuing indebtedness of the Federal Government to the petroleum marketers.
“However, following the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians including the National Assembly as represented by the Senate Committee of Petroleum Downstream and constructive engagement of the Federal Government team by the labour unions most affected by the disengagement of our personnel, namely, PENGASSAN, NUPENG NARTO, PTD, and DAPPMA.
“The union has resolved to recall its disengaged personnel for five days to give the Federal Government’s team the opportunity to conclude its process of paying marketers the full outstanding of N800 billion with the first tranche being the amount already approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
“The association has acted in good faith to avoid unnecessary hardship which could befall Nigerians during the Yuletide season and we hope that government would make good its promise to see that those issues are resolved by Friday, December 14, 2018, as promised.
“To this end, our disengaged personnel would be recalled on Monday, Dec. 10, and considering the reactivation time or hitherto shut down the system, all depots with fuel stock should be fully active same day,” he said.
According to Mr. Adewole, DAPPMA-owned depots would resume loading of products, adding that payment of the debt would put a close to accruing interests from banks.
“DAPPMA depots are, therefore, advised to commence loading operations immediately and await further notification in respect of our long overdue payment,” he said.
He explained that the marketers had rejected promissory notes from the federal government as it would not allow its members to meet their urgent financial obligations to their members.
“As the name suggests, a promissory note is a payment instrument that is post-dated. Based on this, when you approach the banks with the instrument, you don’t get the actual value on it.
“About 30 percent is knocked off because the government will be making the payment at a later date which ties down the bank’s capital,” the association said.