UPDATE 3-Nigeria fuel imports resume after subsidy dispute

* End to fuel shortages in sight as imports resume

* New fuel orders will take 3 to 4 weeks to reach markets

* Nigeria wants to cut subsidies it says corrupt the system

(Adds oil minister, paragraph 14)

By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS, May 13 (Reuters) - Nigeria's fuel marketers are ending a months-long suspension of imports which caused the worst fuel shortages in years after the government started clearing hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidy arrears.

Wale Tinubu, chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and head of one of the country's largest fuel retailers Oando (UNIP.LG: Quote, Profile, Research), told Reuters normal fuel supplies in Africa's most populous nation should be restored within a month.

"Import orders have been placed over the last two weeks. As the government's overall liability to the marketers has reduced, the marketers have responded by partially ordering what they would normally have ordered," Tinubu said in an interview.

"The ships have started coming in. I would say over the next two to four weeks there should be normalcy," he said.