“Withholding of these payments has nothing to do with the National Assembly. It is the executives that are responsible; the necessary ministries and agencies should pay DAPMAN so as to avert this crisis," Senator Barnabas Gemade stated.
The Nigerian Senate has given the Federal Government two weeks to direct relevant agencies to offset subsidy arrears approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and tha National Assembly.
This was the position of the House during its plenary on Thursday.
The session was presided over by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.
Citing Orders 42 and 52, Senator Kabir Marafa raised the motion on the urgent need to avert the looming crises in fuel supply due to non-payment of fuel subsidy to independent marketers.
According to Marafa, who chairs the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, the committee received a letter from Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPMAN) on the non-payment of subsidy arrears by the Federal Government. He said the letter noted that if the demands are not met, DAPMAN will shut down in seven days.
Speaking on the subject, Senator Ahmad Lawan, “Nobody in this administration should sabotage the leadership of this country. DMO and Ministry of Finance should discontinue with this process so that we do not continue like this".
On his own, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi said: “I am a member of this particular Committee, we had a long meeting, we have gone through all the necessary procedures and offices. We have to make sure these funds are released so we can avert this strike", while Senator Barnabas Gemade stated that “Withholding of these payments has nothing to do with the National Assembly. It is the executives that are responsible; the necessary ministries and agencies should pay DAPMAN so as to avert this crisis.”
“This motion is timely, it is a matter that affects our lives in its totality. Christmas is coming so this should be averted. This Senate should do anything humanly possible to stop this," Senator Ahmad Babba Kaita said.
Announcing the resolutions, Ekweremadu called on the Federal Government to honour the obligations to marketers.
Senate resolved to urge the oil marketers to rescind the earlier decision on the one-week ultimatum to give the Federal Government a little more time to look into their demands. The Senate also urged the Federal Government to direct the relevant agencies to pay the subsidy arrears as approved by the Federal Executive Council and National Assembly within two weeks.
They also appealed to the Federal Government to engage marketers.