Nigerian government’s meeting with NARTO and oil marketers ends in deadlock as fuel queues return
The meeting between the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and officials of the federal government over the suspension of petroleum product loading activities ended in a deadlock Monday evening.
The meeting held in Abuja and was attended by the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, with NARTO, oil marketers and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA).
NARTO had in a letter dated 15 February, addressed to the General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and signed by its National President, Othman Yusuf, directed its members to withdraw their trucks from petroleum product loading activities with effect from Monday, 19 February.
He explained that members would park their trucks from Monday “because what we spend on operation is more than what we get in total: both in local and bridging”.
He said: “We will have to suspend operations between now and Monday. We cannot continue to operate at a loss. Most people have parked. A lot more are going to park.
“But from the point of view of the association itself, we are going to suspend operations on Monday.”
Othman disclosed that NARTO’s efforts at soliciting the intervention of all the key stakeholders in the Federal Government and industry have not yielded positive results.
“We have written letters up to the level of the Chief of Staff. We have written to the Honourable Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil).
We have written to DG SSS. We have written to the GCEO. We have written to the Authority Chief Executive. We have written to the Major Marketers, yet no response.”
He noted that the N32 Lagos to Abuja freight rate that was implemented while the dollar was N650 is still retained now that dollar is N1,615.
“Everybody is aware that all our consumables in terms of operation are not produced in the country. So, by virtue of the rate of dollars, every consumable has increased. But the freight they are paying us has been the same even during Buhari’s time.So how is that feasible?
He explained further: “What I mean by local is if you load Lagos, you discharge in Lagos. And bridging is if you load from Lagos, you come to Abuja. Lagos to Lagos, we are paid N120,000.
“AGO alone to distribute fuel within Lagos is N140,000 because it is N1,400 per litre. So, they give you N120,000 and you spend N140,000. How do you want to operate? We are not talking about cost of vehicles, cost of loading, driver’s allowance. That is for local. For bridging Lagos to Abuja, they gave us N32.
“If you have a truck of 40,000 litres, you are talking of N1,280,000-N1,216,000. Less 5% of the amount of N1,280,000 Withholding Tax N64,000. Less 55,000 loading expenses and 15,000 driver allowance. Total expenses N134,000 while balance is N1,146,000. AGO is N1400 for 900 litres, totalling N1,260,000. There is a total loss of N114,000. The diesel that you use from Lagos to Abuja is 900 litres”, he added.
Meanwhile, in the city of Abuja, many fuel stations were not dispensing the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as fuel as of Monday evening, while few marketers that were dispensing have long queues and sell between N617 and N675 per litre.
The NNPC Ltd. retail outlets that currently sell at N617 per litre also had long queues, while black marketers were seen on the roads.
The minister, however, said the transporters had demonstrated patriotism and assured of constant and sustained engagement to find lasting solutions to their challenges.
“Nigerians are already going through a lot as a result of the circumstances we found ourselves in.
“The issues they raised are basically commercial and as a government, we have to intervene so that Nigerians will not suffer. At the end of the engagement, there will be a solution,” he said.
