On Monday, oil marketers expressed shock over the resurfacing of petrol subsidy in June 2020 as disclosed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in its latest operations report.

In a reaction, the oil marketers said the government declared that the downstream oil sector had been deregulated since March 2020, hence subsidy payments were halted.

Speaking to Journalists, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) debunked the NNPC’s claim.

They denied receiving any form of subsidy from the government.

The NNPC in its report declared an under-recovery (that is, the losses incurred by the oil firm due to the difference between the subsidised price at which the corporation sells petrol and the price which it should have received to meet its production cost) of N5.35bn in June.

However, the NNPC Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Kennie Obateru, explained that the return of under-recovery in June was due to the payment for stock held by marketers at the onset of the removal of subsidy by the Federal Government.

Obateru said:

“Since the subsidy removal started with the reduction in pump price, marketers have been paid the differential of the PPPRA verified stock they held and it is spread over a period of six months,” he said.

Expressing surprise and debunking the NNPC’s claim, IPMAN spokesperson, Ukadike Chinedu, said:

“They didn’t pay us any subsidy money. You are also aware that the market has been deregulated. We are now dispensing products based on international crude oil market price.

“Furthermore, you are aware of the price regime and this regime is regulated by the price of crude oil in the international market. So, where is the subsidy coming from?”

“You are also aware that in the months of February, March, April, May and June, the PPPRA released guiding prices for petrol-based on price deregulation. So as at what point did the subsidy come in?

“There is no differential that was paid to us because when they reduced the cost of the product from N145 to N123, they did not pay any differential to anybody.

“We, the oil marketers, suffered a lot and nothing was paid to anybody during that period. We wonder where the subsidy is now coming from.”

Similarly, the National President of PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, also said members of his association were not paid any money.

He said, “We have not been paid any money by anybody. As I speak to you now, we are having price issues. Some stations have not been able to sell their products and are trying to see whether they can sell at a lower price.”