Bridging claims causing fresh fuel crisis, not low load outs at depots – IPMAN

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has urged the Federal Government to pay marketers their bridging claims to enable them to begin lifting petroleum products from the depots and avert another round of fuel crisis in the country.

Most petrol stations in Abuja were shut down at the weekend following scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, resulting in the fresh long queues at petrol stations.

This is as the NNPC Ltd. management has attributed the sudden appearance of fuel queues in parts of Abuja to low load-outs at depots.

However, IPMAN Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Yakubu Suleiman, disclosed in Abuja, Tuesday, that the unpaid bridging claims issue was at the root of the fresh fuel scarcity, even as he also urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd to convert the special allocation of products meant for cargo to IPMAN in order to quickly address the current shortage of fuel in the country.

It would be recalled IPMAN, Monday, had appealed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to pay its members their bridging claims of N500 billion.

“We are calling on the Nigeria downstream and mainstream regulatory authorities to try and pay our marketers their bridging claims as from today (Tuesday).

“This is important, so that as soon as we get the payment, we can give directives to marketers to start loading their trucks, so that they can start transporting petroleum products.

“We are calling on the authorities and the NNPC to quickly allocate a certain cargo of AGO for IPMAN to distribute it to their members to enable them fuel their trucks for accelerated bridging loading.

“There is no money to buy the product until the Federal Government pays our claims and assist in allocating a cargo of AGO to us to hasten loading from various loading deports,” Suleiman said.

However, an official of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) who spoke under condition of anonymity said the Federal Government had been paying the marketers, though in batches.

According to the official,’ IPMAN is one of our key stakeholders and we have a committee looking into issues bothering the association.’

IPMAN had in a recent news conference urged Nigerians to prepare for the worse fuel crisis unless the Federal Government prevails on NMDPRA to pay its members their outstanding bridging claims amounting to N500 billion.

Addressing a news conference in Kano, the State Chairman of IPMAN, Alhaji Bashir Danmalam, Monday, called on the Federal Government to prevail on the agency to pay the debt.

He warned that failure to pay marketers their outstanding claims could cause another disruption in fuel distribution.

He said the debt had forced many IPMAN members out of business.

“The non-payment of the debt for over eight months has crippled the businesses of many members as they cannot transport available petroleum products.

“The resurfacing of fuel queues in Abuja is just a tip of the iceberg.

“Only 5 per cent of marketers are still in business,’’ Danmalam lamented.

He noted that since the merging of the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency into the NMDPRA, the agency had paid marketers only twice.

Danmalam called on the Federal Government to intervene before the situation degenerated into a serious fuel crisis spread to other parts of the country.

“We are not agitating for transportation fee increase; we are only clamouring for payment of our bridging claims that is more than N500 billion,’’ he stressed.