* Says it doesn’t owe marketers

BY  OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI

The Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board, PEF(M)B, has denied reports that it was owing oil marketers bridging claims, which allegedly led to the fuel scarcity in some parts of the country. 

The Executive Secretary of the PEF(M)B, Mrs. Adefunke Sharon Kasali, who made the statement,  stressed that the organization was in no way to blame for the lingering fuel crisis in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and in some parts of the North.

“The PEF(M)B is not responsible for the fuel crisis in parts of the country and mainly in the FCT, because we have consistently and responsibly met our bridging and payment obligations to all petroleum marketers in the country,” she said in  Abuja at the weekend.

She went on:  “Currently, the Board is in the process of ensuring that such bridging claims are sorted and paid for within weeks so as to enable steady and efficient distribution of products to depots across the country.”

“We want to make it clear that payment of claims to oil marketers has been going on without a hitch, we’ve been meeting our obligation towards making bridging payments to marketers in a consistent fashion.

“We do not have any problem unlike in the past when marketers were being owed for several months.”

On the payment of the 45 percent increase on freight rate for oil transporters, Kasali said the Board had been notified and it was making arrangements to begin payment for transactions which were carried out from March 1, 2011.

She said, “We have notified the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, and to other relevant stakeholders of the increment, and we have informed them of our preparedness to start implementation of the new freight rate as approved by the Federal Government.

“We have begun the process of paying for all marketers’ claims that arrive after Marc 1, 2011, which is the start-off day for the implementation of the new increase. Any claim that comes after that day will enjoy the new freight rate and all marketers who have paid the old rate will be reimbursed.

Kasali said that although the Board was yet to receive the N2.2 billion fresh allocation for the implementation of the new freight rate, it would not hinder the implementation of the new payment regime.

According to her, “Our plan is to go ahead with processing claims and paying them as quickly and as consistently as we can, and we obviously won’t let anything hinder or derail our payment plans. We do not have any problem at all in that regard.”

The PEF(M)B boss further noted that as from this  week, the Board would increase its resources towards ensuring that all outstanding claims by marketers are resolved in order to make way for the launch of its electronic-loading solution, Project Aquila.