The federal government and the Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum (NIPMF) have come to an agreement on ways to resolve the lingering standoff on unclaimed N500bn bridging claims.
Recall that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), a few days ago, threatened to shut down petroleum product distribution across the country over the debt the federal government is owing its members as bridging cost.
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But in a statement yesterday, the Chairman of NIPMF, Alh. Zarma Mustapha, said it reached an agreement with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), in a meeting after some of it agreed to address some of its concerns.
Mustapha said NMDPRA would now commence the payment of bridging claims frequently with the aim of reducing the bulk of outstanding claims to the barest minimum.
“We have agreed with the management on continuous engagement on our challenges rather than confrontation and a review of payment of rejected claims will be done urgently as they are working on the review of the bridging rate as the current rate is not realistic. Henceforth, the sequential payment of bridging claims in batches will be adhered to without any reason for interruption.”
He added that so far, over N50bn has been paid and a promise for payment of another N10bn before the end of the month.
He, therefore, urged members to give the management to see into the implementation of the agreement before any actions would be taken.
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