The Senate
yesterday condemned reports attributed to President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of
Staff, Abba Kyari, suggesting that the failure to pay subsidy debts owed oi
l
marketers was due to the chamber’s refusal to approve a loan request.
In a
statement, the spokesman Aliu Sabi Abdullahi stressed that as far as the Senate
was concerned, the Buhari administration cancelled the payment of subsidy on
petroleum products since 2016, therefore the talk about any loan could not be
true.
“The
attention of the Senate has been drawn to a claim said to have been made by the
Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, during a meeting with
stakeholders in the oil industry on the perennial fuel scarcity in the country,
to the effect that the payment of debt owed oil marketers was being delayed
because the National Assembly has not approved request presented to the
legislature for loan meant for that purpose,” the statement notes.
The House
said it wanted members of the public to know that no such request had been
made.
“The Senate
is aware that subsidy on petroleum has been cancelled by this administration.
So, we wonder which payment we are talking about now. We call on Mallam Kyari
to either prove his claim or retract it.
“Instead of
resorting to false claims and shifting blame, both the executive and
legislature should work together to solve this unnecessary fuel crisis which is
making life more difficult for our people,” the statement reads.
A public
hearing aimed at finding a solution to the scarcity is expected to take place
today at the Senate.
Also, the
National Assembly yesterday warned marketers of petroleum products against
pushing for an increase in the price of petrol, saying such move amounted to
blackmail.
The chairman
of the Senate committee on petroleum (downstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa (APC,
Zamfara) gave the reprimand, backed by his House of Representatives
counterpart, Joseph Akinlaja (PDP, Ondo).
Marafa spoke
during an assessment of some filling stations in Abuja where he disclosed that
government had put in place measures to avert any further increase in the pump
price of petrol beyond N145 per litre.
“We would
find out if their demands are truly genuine. Note that the government is
spending a lot of money on marketers. It is also subsidising the dollar for
them to import fuel. The government is also spending a lot of money on the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through subsidy for fuel
importation. So, nobody can blackmail anybody.”
He assured
the citizens that a joint public hearing of the Senate and the House of
Representatives committees on petroleum (downstream) would get to the root of
the clamour by marketers for an increase in pump price.
Marafa
blamed poor supply and hoarding for the persistent scarcity of fuel across the
country. He was, however, optimistic the situation would end within three days.
Akinlaja
added: “Before we came to Abuja, all of us went to our constituencies to carry
out this kind of assessment. NNPC gave us an assurance that in the next few
days, it would be over. We expect that in the next three days, the situation
will improve.”
Some of the
filling stations visited were Total, opposite Force Headquarters; Azman, on the
same axis; Conoil, opposite NNPC Towers; and NIPCO and MRS, along Airport Road.
Meanwhile,
marketers yesterday at a meeting set up by the Federal Government to resolve
the crisis pleaded for a tax holiday to facilitate the importation of fuel into
the country.
A source at
the meeting, who pleaded anonymity, said the marketers agreed that the pump
price should not be increased.
He said:
“There is no planned increase in the fuel price. The Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources said it should not be contemplated. None of us even wanted
the price to rise. What we talked about is tax holidays and other things in
that line.
“Also, all
stakeholders have agreed to look inward and improve efficiency, so that we can
cut down cost and resume our business. Nobody is concerned about any price
increase.”
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