The federal government has seven working days to resolve unresolved bridging claims worth more than N100 billion, according to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Depot Chairmen Forum.
The forum’s chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, issued a warning in a statement on Monday in Abuja that marketers will stop loading and distributing petroleum products throughout the nation if the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) does not make the payment by the deadline.
“If NMDPRA does not pay us within seven working days, we will stop providing our services nationwide,” he said. Along with locking all of our stations across the country, we will also stop loading and unloading our tanks.
Alhassan was irritated that the NMDPRA has still ignoring the payment request even after a year has gone by since the original demand.
At a stakeholders’ meeting on the eve of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners’ (NARTO) most recent strike action, he noted that the NMDPRA had committed to paying the debt in connection with the claims’ non-payment.
“A year after our last demand, demanding that the NMDPRA pay our members over N100 billion owed in bridging and NTA claims, the management of NMDPRA has purposefully ignored our request, even after making clear promises to pay us,” Alhassan said.
“The NMDPRA made one of those promises at the stakeholders’ meeting that was held on the eve of the last strike action that NARTO announced,” he continued. The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) made the identical IPMAN bridging claims a part of their demands at that meeting before the strike was called off.
He added that in the presence of Mr. Adeola Ajayi, the DG of the DSS, and Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Advisor, the NMDPRA had committed to offsetting the bridging claims within 40 days.
Nevertheless, Alhassan bemoaned, “40 days have stretched into months, and the payment is still not expected.”
He stated that this outstanding debt has resulted in the entire grounding of the nine Northern depots: Jos, Gusau, Minna, Suleja, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Yola, and Maiduguri depots.
In order to clear up any confusion, he restated, “It is important to reiterate that the debt owed to us is money belonging to marketers, which was deducted from us at the point of payment for products in order to settle our bridging allowances.”
The forum chairman also voiced concern about the ongoing detrimental effects, which include some of their members dying, businesses closing, employees being laid off, and commercial banks seizing business spaces because the NMDPRA won’t pay the required amount.
The imposition of various anomalous fees on members by the NMDPRA is another urgent concern, according to Alhassan. He cited the most alarming aspect as the 5% charge levied on the selling of gas station locations.
When did the NMDPRA become into real estate brokers and start taking commissions on retail gas station sales? he asked. As members of IPMAN, we go above and above to update our stores to adhere to global best practices in the ever-changing downstream retail sector. However, by charging strange fees on us everytime we renovate, the NMDPRA has made this more challenging.
“These are just some of the many upsetting levies they have imposed on us,” Alhassan added. We demand that they be suspended immediately since they are unconstitutional and anti-developmental.
We think we have given the NMDPRA enough time to settle the bridging claims and pay us our dues, he said as a forum of law-abiding Nigerians. However, given their persistent denial, we have made the decision to work with our sister groups, PTD and NARTO, to take collective action when the time is right.
IPMAN members also possess a sizable number of petroleum tankers that are run by the PTD, Alhassan noted. In order to demand the prompt payment of bridging and NTA claims, he issued a warning that they might have to stop using their tankers to load petroleum supplies.
He urged the federal government, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, to completely step in and resolve the current conflict between the NMDPRA and the IPMAN Depot Chairmen.
“If our demands are not met, we will not hesitate to take immediate action in due course, starting from today, Monday, 24th February 2025,” Alhassan issued a warning.
He asked members nationwide to stay firm and follow the law as they wait for the NMDPRA to take action on their demands.
