N200bn bridging claims: IPMAN threatens strike!

*Says N200bn debt accrued since Sept. 2022 despite payment directives by Lokpobiri

*Reveals that 40 days after the Minister’s directive, paltry sum of N13bn was paid

*That banks have taken over business premises of many of its members owing to unpaid loans

*Regrets that many of its members have died due to collapse of their businesses

By Our Correspondent with agency report

Despite the suffering Nigerians are going through due to the recent fuel scarcity across the country, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has threatened that it will take decisions that will cripple the supply of petrol due to the non-payment of over N200 billion bridging claims.

It would be recalled that bridging claims entails the cost of transporting fuel from depots to approved zones to ensure a uniform pump price across the country.

However, in a communiqué in a press conference on Tuesday, Oliver Okolo, the association’s unit chairman and spokesperson, Aba Depot, said the debt is being owed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NMDPRA).

Okolo said NMDPRA failed to pay the N200 billion debt accruing since September 2022 — despite a directive for payment from Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of petroleum resources (oil).

“We are poised to take far-reaching decisions that may cripple the supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria, if our demands are not met within the shortest period,” he said.

He said the NMDPRA’s delay in offsetting the debt has led to the “deaths of many of our members and the unfortunate collapse of their businesses”.

“As businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running daily across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, to serve the teeming population of Nigerians.

“However, it is demoralising to know that many of our members have gone bankrupt and have become financially insolvent as a result of their inability to meet their financial obligations to their banks, arising wholly from their inability to get their monies from the NMDPRA.

“Consequently, also, the banks have taken over the business premises of many of our members.

“As indigenous organisations, and Depot Chairmen, we are unhappy that rather than receive support from the government to boost our businesses, we are being discouraged, by the head of NMDPRA.

“It is noteworthy to recall and state here that at a stakeholders meeting held on the 20th of February, 2024 with Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), and the NSA Nuhu Ribadu, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Authority of NMDPRA, was mandated by Mr. Heinehken Lokpobiri to clear the entire debt in 40 days”, he added.

However, after the 40-day deadline, Okolo said a paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid.