Herein this post, the Federal government starts payment of bridging claims which led to the suspension of the NARTO strike.
There was relief across the nation as The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has suspends its planned nationwide strike, with the National President, Othman Yusuf, directing members to immediately resume petroleum loading activities.
The suspension was sequel to Federal Government’s announcement that it has commenced payment of their bridging claims.
Speaking after negotiations which spanned two days in Abuja, stakeholders, including the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said all outstanding bridging claims would be verified and paid by the government.
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Senator Heineken Lokpobiri said though NARTO’s issues were purely commercial, its intervention and transportation claims payment (though figure undisclosed) became necessary to ensure fuel availability nationwide and maintain a business-friendly environment.
“I want to announce to Nigerians that after consultations with all stakeholders, we have come to a conclusion that the strike will be called off.
“All the issues they raised have been addressed and I have also given commitments on behalf of the government that going forward the government will do what it is expected to do.
“We have given our commitment and we have started paying some of the bridging claims. We have also committed that in the next four weeks, maximum by the middle of next month, we would have been done with the reconciliation so that those that are owing will pay up,” Lokpobiri said.
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The Minister, while thanking the oil marketers for their patriotism and commitment in the industry, pledged that the engagement would be sustained to ensure a friendly environment for businesses to thrive.
Also speaking, National President of NARTO, Yusuf Othman said an agreement has been reached with the government and oil marketers.
He said that part of the deal reached is that there will be an improvement in the freight rate from the current N32 per liter, but declined to name the new rate.
Othman added: “This has no relation with the pump price. Our agitation is as regards the freight rate, for the transportation of petrol.
” In any case, you have to transport the fuel before you sell it and if the amount, they are paying is not adequate to move the product to the stations, you will not see it to buy.”
Meanwhile, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari, has listed some of the impediments to the achievement of energy security in Nigeria to include lack of investment in the energy sector.
He said this was due to uncertainty in the business environment and multiple taxation, adding that in the last 10 years, less than 3 per cent of the total investment flow into Africa came into Nigeria.
According to him, no public wealth creation endeavor can achieve any meaningful success without energy security.
Kyari spoke during a presentation at the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Public Wealth Management Conference which held in Abuja yesterday.
He noted that all other wealth creating activities such as agriculture rely heavily on one form of energy or the other to thrive, according to a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the company, Mr. Olufemi Soneye.
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“If you don’t have energy, you don’t have agriculture. You can do all the agriculture but you can’t take it to the market, you may not be able to preserve it, you can’t even export it. So, all those indices are clearly connected to the ability to create energy,” he emphasized.
He disclosed that Nigeria has a huge energy deficit with about 70 per cent of the population lacking access to clean cooking fuel and over 50 per cent lacking access to electricity.
He, however, assured that NNPC was working hard to lay the foundation for sustainable wealth creation by filling the energy deficit gap.
He stressed that the company’s growth trajectory from a loss position N803 billion in 2018 to N2.5 trillion in 2022 was a testimony to the abundant potential of NNPC to lead the process of wealth creation in the country.
He emphasized that in spite of the challenges, NNPC Ltd is still the highest tax paying corporate entity in Nigeria.