The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to pay the bridging claims owed marketers amounting to N100bn or face an industrial action.

Bridging claims represent the cost of transporting fuel from the former Pipelines and Products Marketing Company depots to approved zones to ensure a uniform pump price across the country.

The association threatened to withdraw services if the amount was not paid to them before the deadline.

This move follows the NMDPRA’s failure to clear the debt, despite promises made 40 days ago in the presence of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. If unresolved, the situation could lead to a nationwide scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit nationwide.

The Chairman of the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, Yahaya Alhasan, disclosed this during a press conference in Abuja on Monday.

The IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, reading a communique, expressed frustration over the NMDPRA’s failure to settle the bridging claims, despite repeated assurances.

The claims, which date back to 2024, were deducted from marketers’ payments for products to settle bridging allowances.

Recall that the government previously paid oil marketers N74bn for bridging claims in 2022 and another N2.7bn for freight differentials as of June 6, 2024.

However, IPMAN’s current demands highlight the ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.

Alhasan said, “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 N100bn owed to our members in bridging and NTA claims by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, 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 listed this same IPMAN bridging claim as part of their demands before the strike action would be called off.”

However, efforts to contact the NMDPRA through its spokesperson, George Ene-Ita, regarding the marketers’ claims and the authority’s plans to prevent a potential strike were unsuccessful. Despite multiple attempts to reach him, he did not respond to phone calls placed to his line.

Meanwhile, the IPMAN official revealed that Northern depots in Jos, Gusau, Minna, Suleja, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Yola, and Maiduguri have become completely grounded due to this lingering debt.

IPMAN also frowned at the five per cent levy imposed on its members by NMDPRA on the sale of petrol stations, which they described as unconstitutional and anti-developmental.

The association clarified that these funds are not government allocations but monies that were deducted from payments made by its members to settle bridging allowances.

It emphasised that the prolonged non-payment of these debts has led to devastating consequences for its members, including the loss of lives, the closure of businesses, staff retrenchment, and the takeover of business premises by commercial banks.