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…Threaten Withdrawal Of Services Over Unpaid Debts

Baring special, but urgent, intervention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol,  across the country may worsen in coming days if independent petrol marketers go ahead to carry out their threat to withdraw their services totally.

Some petrol stations belonging to the marketers have been under lock and key in the past few days as they have no products to dispense.

The marketers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said on Tuesday that they will stop the supply of petrol, if the federal government fails to pay the N200 billion outstanding bridging claims owed them.

The threat comes following current nationwide scarcity which has seen prices of petrol surge to between N610 and N800 per litre at the pump, and between N1,000 and N1,400 at black market.

In a communique issued by the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum in Abuja on Tuesday, and read by the chairman, Aba Depot, Mazi Oliver Okolo, the association said the withdrawal of service will start anytime from now, following the expiration of the 40-day grace period given after a meeting with the minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri in February 2024, where the minister directed the the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NMDPRA) to pay off the outstanding bridging claims.

Okolo said NMDPRA failed to pay the N200 billion debt despite a directive from the minister.

He said that only N13 billion had been paid to their members, and that the unpaid claim had crippled their businesses.

He blamed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the sole importer of petroleum products, for the current nationwide petrol scarcity.

He noted that some of its members have “completely” shut down their businesses, and retrenched their employees.

“We have watched with apprehension also, the unpatriotic attitude of the leadership of the NMDPRA to offset this debt that has been accrued to us since September 2022.

“As businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running daily across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, to serve the teeming population of Nigerians.

“However, it is demoralising to know that many of our members have gone bankrupt and have become financially insolvent as a result of their inability to meet their financial obligations to their banks, arising wholly from their inability to get their monies from the NMDPRA.

“Consequently, also, the banks have taken over the business premises of many of our members.

“As indigenous organisations, and Depot Chairmen, we are unhappy that rather than receive support from the government to boost our businesses, we are being discouraged, by the head
of NMDPRA.

“It is noteworthy to recall and state here that at a stakeholders meeting held on the 20th of February, 2024 with Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), and the NSA Nuhu Ribadu, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Authority of NMDPRA, was mandated by Mr. Heinehken
Lokpobiri to clear the entire debt in 40 days.

“However today, we have crossed the 40 days time-lapse given to the NMDPRA to clear the debt, and it is shameful to state that only the paltry sum of N13Billion has been paid, thus going the whole length to ignore our plight without remorse and without recourse to the Honourable Minister’s directive,” the communique read.

The group also claimed that the NNPC Limited imports the products, and supplies to private depots who then sell to them at exorbitant prices of between N820 and N950 per litre, adding that IPMAN members pay an extra N2 million to transport it to other parts of the country, making it difficult for them to sell to Nigerians at the agreed pump price.

The IPMAN members then called on President Bola Tinubu to closely look into the matter, which according to them, is highly detrimental to their businesses and reverse it forthwith, as it is bound to impact negatively on the masses thereafter.

ABUJA BUSINESS REPORTS NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE recalls that on May 29, 2023, President Tinubu declared that petrol subsidy was gone, insisting that the country must do away with the corrupt petrol subsidy regime to save the economy from collapse.

However, the aftermath of the subsidy removal led to high cost of basic commodities, leading to national protests tagged hunger protest.

The President Tinubu administration has pledged to cushion effects of the subsidy removal policy, however, prices of essential goods and services have continued to skyrocket across the country over high cost of transportation induced by the petrol subsidy removal.