Fuel Queues in Abuja, Kogi, Others May Worsen as Marketers Withdraw Services

Say NMDPRA leadership inaccessible, owing N50bn Downstream regulatory agency reveals N74bn paid to marketers in seven months

The perennial petrol queues in and around Abuja may further deteriorate from this week as members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the Suleja axis yesterday withdrew their services.

In a communiqué read by the Secretary of IPMAN, Suleja and Abuja depots, Alhaji Mohammed Shuaibu on behalf of the Chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, the union accused theNigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) of being insensitive to their plight.

Specifically, the independent marketers said their members had not been paid their “bridging claims” for about 12 months, amounting to over N50 billion.

But in reaction, the NMDPRA said it had so far paid N74 billion to IPMAN members as bridging claims in the last seven months.

IPMAN however alleged that the fund administered by NMDPRA was being withheld for inexplicable reasons.

The branch of the striking petroleum marketers covers Abuja, Kogi, Nasarawa, parts of Kaduna state as well as the entire Niger state.

“The Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) is owing us bridging claims from 2021 till date. Therefore, all our claims should be paid without any delay.

"About 85 per cent of our staff are being laid-off because there is no money to pay their salaries. These include pump attendants, truck drivers and other administrative staff,” the independent marketers lamented.

IPMAN stated that for instance, the marketers that had up to 10 trucks and above could no longer maintain them due to lack of payment of their bridging claims allowances by the NMDPRA which oversees the midstream and downstream areas of the petroleum industry.

Due to the payment default, the IPMAN members said the development had reduced the supply of petroleum products to Abuja and environs, since getting funding to purchase the product and maintain their trucks to transport products from the south to Abuja had become problematic.

“The above-mentioned problems have resulted in the scarcity of petrol currently being experienced in Abuja and environs unabated.

“The new management of NMDPRA is short-changing marketers by selecting a few marketers and paying them, while others have not been paid.

“We are surprised that the head of the midstream and downstream has been disseminating information, using different media houses that he has paid the marketers, while the available records show that PEF is owing marketers for 12 months," IPMAN contended.

According to the fuel marketers, while available records showed that

Farouk Ahmed’s predecessors cultivated a good business environment by ensuring that marketers' claims were not being delayed, the new chief executive's disposition at the helm of affairs clearly showed that “he's out to kill marketers' businesses.”

In addition, the independent marketers revealed that all efforts made to reach out to the head of the midstream and downstream had not been successful, stating that calls made to his phone are neither answered nor returned.

“On the above subject matter, the public should hold the head of the midstream and downstream responsible for the current scarcity being experienced across the petrol station in Abuja and environs.