N100bn Debt: Fuel Scarcity Looms as IPMAN Threatens to Halt Services

In January, the Nigerian government promised to clear the N100 billion bridging claim debt owed to petrol marketers and asked for a 40-day window.

The Chairman of the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, Mr Yahaya Alhasan, during a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has failed to clear the debt 40 days after promising to do so in the presence of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr Nuhu Ribadu.

He revealed that northern depots, comprising the Jos depot, Gusau depot, Minna depot, Suleja depot, Kaduna depot, Kano depot, Gombe depot, Yola depot, and the Maiduguri depot, have become completely grounded due to this lingering debt.

IPMAN also frowned at the 5 per cent levy imposed on its members by NMDPRA.

“If NMDPRA doesn’t pay our money within seven days, we are going to withdraw our services across the nation.”

“We are extremely frustrated that one year after our last demand as a forum, requesting the payment of over N100 billion owed to us, the management of the NMDPRA has deliberately ignored our request, even after making clear promises to pay us.

“One of those promises was made by the NMDPRA at the stakeholders’ meeting convened on the eve of the last strike action declared by NARTO. At that stakeholders’ meeting, the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), listed this same IPMAN bridging claim as part of their demands before the strike action would be called off.

“The NMDPRA promised to offset the bridging claims in 40 days, even in the presence of the National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, and the DG DSS, Mr. Adeola Ajayi. However, 40 days have today become months with no hope of our payment.

“Hence, the nine northern depots comprising the Jos depot, Gusau depot, Minna depot, Suleja depot, Kaduna depot, Kano depot, Gombe depot, Yola depot, and Maiduguri depot, have become completely grounded due to this lingering debt.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is imperative to state again that this debt being owed to us is money belonging to marketers, which was deducted from us at the point of payment for products to settle our bridging allowances.

“We have also continued to record the deaths of our members, the closure of their businesses, the retrenchment of staff, and the takeover of their business premises by commercial banks, all arising from this refusal of the NMDPRA to pay us our money,” he added, according to a communiqué.

The group also lamented the worrisome development of NMDPRA imposing several levies on its members.

“Chief among them is the imposition of a 5 per cent commission accruable to them from the sale of any petrol station outlet in Nigeria. Tell me, when has the NMDPRA turned itself into a real estate agency, collecting a commission on the sale of retail petrol outlets? There is no gainsaying the fact that the downstream retail industry is an ever-evolving one.

“So, as IPMAN members, we go the extra mile to renovate our outlets occasionally to meet international best practices.

“However, the NMDPRA has also made this very difficult for us, as they have subjected our members to paying bizarre levies whenever we deem it fit to renovate our petrol outlets.

“These are just a few of the many distressing levies they have forced on us. These are not only anti-developmental but also unconstitutional, and we are demanding their immediate suspension.

“As a forum of law-abiding Nigerians, we sincerely believe that we have given the NMDPRA enough time to pay us our money in bulk and clear the bridging claims.

“But in view of their constant refusal, we have therefore decided to liaise with our sister organizations, the PTD and NARTO, in order to take collective action in due course.

“As members of IPMAN, it is important to state that we also own a sizable number of petroleum tankers driven by the PTD, and we may be forced to withdraw our tankers from loading petroleum products in a bid to enforce the immediate payment of our bridging and NTA claims.

“We hereby call on the Federal Government of Nigeria, headed by President Bola Tinubu, to fully intervene in this prolonged dispute between the Depot Chairmen of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, and the Nigerian Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.

“We will not hesitate to take immediate action if our demands are not met, beginning Monday, February 24, 2025.

“We call on our members nationwide to remain resolute and law-abiding as we wait for our demands to be met and addressed by the NMDPRA,” the group stated.