The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has told Nigerians to prepare for the worst fuel crisis.
To avoid this, IPMAN asked the Federal Government (FG) to prevail on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to pay its members their outstanding ‘bridging claims’ amounting to over N500 billion.
The IPMAN chairman in Kano State, Bashir Danmalam, made the remarks while addressing a news conference in the State on Monday, 9th May 2022.
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He disclosed the failure of the NMDPRA to pay the bridging claims, otherwise known as transportation claims, had forced many of its members out of business as they couldn’t transport the commodity due to high cost of diesel.
Mr Danmalam lamented that non-payment of the claims by NMDPRA for over eight months had crippled the businesses of many of their members as they couldn’t transport the commodity even though it was available.
He said, “NMDPRA is responsible for the payment of bridging claims otherwise known as transportation claims For failure of the NMDPRA to pay the outstanding claims for about nine months, many marketers cannot transport the product because their funds are not being paid. Despite the high price of diesel, they manage to supply the petroleum products nationwide.
“The resurfacing of fuel queues in Abuja is just a tip of the iceberg with regard to the petroleum scarcity. Out of 100 percent, only five per cent of the marketers can supply the petroleum products because of the failure of NMDPRA to pay them.”
He frowned that since after the amalgamation of DPR, PEF, and PPRA, to form NMDPRA, the agency had paid them only two times.
Danmalam, therefore, called on the FG to intervene before the situation degenerates into a serious fuel crisis and spreads to other parts of the country.
“As leaders, we have to come out to say the truth because our members are suffering from the failure of the agency to pay the fund. This Petroleum Equalisation Fund is our own money we contribute to each litre. This agency is doing more harm than good to us.”
He asked Nigerians not to blame their members for the fuel scarcity, but rather ascribe it to NMDPRA.
“We are not agitating for a transportation fee increase, we are only clamouring for payment of our bridging claims that amounts to over N500 billion.” he added.
Without mincing words, Nigeria’s authorities are just bunch of clowns, to assert the least. Nigerians were notified by the NNPC barely 24 hours ago that the resurfaced fuel scarcity in Abuja was attributed to low load-outs of petroleum products owing to the long public holidays.
I wonder why these authorities enjoy playing pranks on the country’s citizenry. They are unwittingly making our young ones believe that prank is an acceptable act or behaviour. They have never informed, and can never inform, the general public the actual cause of any ongoing crisis in any part of the country.
The resurfaced fuel scarcity signifies that another phase of hunger looms in Nigeria. Nigerians are apparently living not unlike slaves in their own land. That is exactly the situation they have been subjected to, by their leaders. The worst is, they are ‘suffering-smiling’. How did we get here?
As another phase of the fuel crisis looms, it’s pertinent to note that what the system candidly needs is overhaul.