The silence of the federal government is settling arrears of debt pile up during the regime of subsidy to oil marketers is set to crash their businesses and cause job loss.
In a save our soul message sent to the government, the marketers under that aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, and Independent Petroleum Products Importers said the debts had risen to over $2bn.
According to them, mass retrenchment is looming due to the failure of the Federal Government to pay the debt owed them for importation of petroleum products as well as the accrued interest on loans from banks and exchange rate differential.
In a joint communiqué issued after their meeting in Lagos and signed by their legal adviser, Patrick Etim, they noted that many marketers and oil companies owe workers over eight months’ salaries due to the inability of government to pay off their debts on products imported since 2015.
They therefore urged the government to authorise the payment of outstanding interest and foreign exchange differentials owed them to save their business from total collapse.
