The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN), has asked Nigerians to prepare for the worst fuel crisis.
The IPMAN chairman, Kano State chapter, Bashir Danmalam, made the remarks while addressing a news conference in Kano State on Monday.
The marketers, however, asked the Federal Government to prevail on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA), to pay its members their outstanding bridging claims amounting to over N500 billion in order to avoid the scarcity.
According to him, the failure of the NMDPRA to pay the bridging claims, otherwise known as transportation claims, had forced many of its members out of business as they couldn’t transport the commodity due to the high cost of diesel.
He lamented that non-payment of the claims by NMDPRA for over 8 months had crippled the businesses of many of their members as, according to him, they couldn’t transport the commodity even though it was available.
He said, “Out of 100 percent, only 5% of the marketers can supply the petroleum products because of the failure of NMDPRA to pay them. The resurfacing of fuel queues in Abuja is just a tip of the iceberg with regard to the petroleum scarcity”.
He noted that after the amalgamation of the Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR), Petroleum Equalisation Fund, (PEF), and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, (PPPRA) to NMDPRA, the agency had paid them only two times.
Danmalam, therefore, called on the Federal Government to intervene before the situation degenerated into a serious fuel crisis and spread to other parts of the country.
He said Nigerians should not blame their members for the fuel scarcity but rather ascribe it to NMDPRA.
“We are not agitating for a transportation fee increase; we are only clamouring for payment of our bridging claims, which is over N500 billion”, he stated.
