Petroleum marketers threaten to down tools over unpaid claims

Northern petroleum marketers under the aegis of Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum have threaten to down tools over unpaid claims to their members by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The Chairman, Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum, Musa Yahaya Maikifi, made this known while speaking to journalists in Kano.

He was reacting to the claims by the NMDPRA and its Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmad, that they had paid marketers the sum of N74 billion within the past seven months, out of which the Northern marketers received N42 billions of their bridging claims.

Maikifi called on the authorities involved to settle their unpaid claims from now to the end of this month, July 2022, or else they will down tools.

He said many of them were out of capital to transport petroleum products to the northern part of the country.

“The claim that Mr Farouk Ahmad made on the 29th of last month that he has been paying Independent Petroleum Marketers their bridging claims up to the amount of 42 billion is not true. A Couple of months ago, he paid some selected marketers huge amount of money. Maybe he was referring to those marketers.” he said.

“Our general marketers comprising nine depots under my leadership; Kano, Kaduna, Gusau, Suleja, Minna, Maiduguri, Gombe, Yola and, Jos, none of us collected such kind of money.

“All the money we are using to lift the product are now with him, so, in the next few months, we won’t be able to buy the little product people are seeing now. We can’t even afford to buy it because all the money is now under his custody.

“We have given him up till the end of this month, if he refuses to pay us our money, we are going to take an action that will not be good for him, the north and Nigeria at large.

“Before we receive our money in a month, two or three months highest, but now it’s more than a year. The last payment we received was May last year. Rejection of payment is seriously disturbing our marketers. If nothing comes up by the end of this month, we are going to collaborate with our mother association – IPMAN.”

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had in a statement counter allegations made by Independent Petroleum Marketers Association Nigeria (IPMAN Suleja Branch) on product scarcity as a result of non-payment of bridging claims.

The Authority said, “bridging payment is an ongoing process which is carried out after due verification exercise by the Authority and Marketers.”