The Federal Government, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the current fuel scarcity witnessed across the country will ease off before weekend, even as major petroleum marketers said they have deployed 495 truckloads of petrol, with a minimum capacity of 33,000 litres each to Lagos and Abuja. Speaking after a meeting with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA; oil marketers and depot owners, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed that the Federal Government had addressed all issues in contention with the marketers, including those on foreign exchange rate differentials and payment for subsidy. According to her, the Federal Government has agreed to pay the N30 billion, about N6 trillion, exchange rate differentials owed marketers over the last couple of months, and is already in the process of offsetting the N185 billion debts owed the marketers with the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes, SDNs, which is a guarantee used for the payment of imported petroleum products. She said the Federal Government had been in talks with the marketers over the last 10 days, adding that the President wants Nigerians to know that he is working on the situation and committed to resolving the issue in the shortest possible time. She urged marketers to be patriotic in their dealings with the government as the issue affects all and sundry, while commending Nigerians for their patience, saying the crisis will be over in the next couple of days. She said: “In the next few days, the queues will dissipate, the situation will be addressed and everything will return to normal. At the Federal Executive Council meeting today (yesterday), the issue was discussed in terms of pushing forward and making sure things get back to normal.”
