By EdiriEjoh

Until the Federal Government engaged various parties involved in the subsidy scheme for oil importation, there will be no end to the lingering fuel crises, according to the Chairman/Managing Director, Mobil Oil NigeriaPlc, Mr. Adetunji. A. Oyebanji. He made this known to journalists during the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos, for shareholders to consider and adopt its 2014 Annual Report & Accounts.

He said that for there to be a change, all the stakeholders involved should be engaged on round table. He said, “My advice for a sustainable downstream sector is that the government should talk to those who have invested in the business.if there is to be a change in the sector, the stakeholders and people involved should be called to a round table.

“When I say stakeholders, I mean the legitimate ones, and not the ‘fly- by-night’, ‘portfolio people’ or illegitimate ones. There should be a dialogue to chart a better way forward for the industry that would reshape the country at large.” He urged government to pay the debt owed marketers, “if you borrow money from banks to import and you refuse to pay at stipulated time, the banks will disturb you. If the government has money they should pay. Nobody would ask of forex differentials if they pay the money as and when due.

“All those charges are avoidable. But now, when they have imported for which payment has to be made, instead of referring us to verify debts,if there are bad people in the past, that doesn’t mean it should rub off on other legitimate marketers.

“Never a time had we gone on strike but we should be paid our money. If they don’t want subsidy again they should stop, as long as it is there those who import should be paid and paid on time.” On the stakeholders meeting with the government on subsidy last week, he noted that there was no decision reached on the payment but rather further promises, “because basically they said they were going to verify and verify.”

He hinted that the queues at the stations were not caused by marketers but tanker owners who refused to supply due to the debt owed them by oil marketers. “If marketers have fuel to load and there are no tankers to distribute them, how do we load?

“Some marketers cannot pay the transporters because of the debt owed them by the government which is quite alot of money. “One would think that it is better to get the money owed them before incurring more debt on fresh importation, and until we know the policies of the government as regards subsidy, nobody is going to take the risk with shareholders money to import products.”

Shareholders reward

Despite the downturn in products distribution, the Mobil Oil boss disclosed that the company made a turnover of N79.6 billion and profit after tax of N6.4billion in 2014, this according to him represented an increase of 1% and 84% respectively, compared with previous year. “This includes an after-tax gain of N2.6 billion on disposal of a surplus property, the proceeds of which were re-invested in our Mobil Court Refurbishment Project. Excluding this gain, profit after-tax was N3.8 billion, which was 10% higher than 2013.

“Our results were adversely impacted by government controlled fixed margin on gasoline and kerosene as well as the supply disruptions in the second half of the year.” As a result, Mobil Oil shareholders approved the payment of dividend of 660 kobo per 50 kobo share, subject to deduction of withholding taxes at applicable rates.

The recommended dividend represented an increase of 10% over last year’s level, to balance the need to pay shareholders a fair return with the need to retain funds in the business in a challenging business environment.