PETROLEUM MARKETERS DEMAND PAYMENT OF OUTSTANDING DEBT OWED BY REGULATOR 30-04-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Deport Chairmen Forum of the Independent Petroleum Marketers association of Nigeria has accused the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA of owing its members over two hundred billion naira.
In a communiques issued at the end of its meeting, the IPMAN depot chairmen forum also distant itself for being responsible for the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol and noted that the scarcity was wholly triggered by the NNPC and not by IPMAN or her members.
According to the Body, its members where not hoarding PMS products as claimed in some quarters and reiterated that NNPC are the sole importers of PMS products.
“It is also disheartening to note that some of our members have completely shut down their businesses, and retrenched their employees as we are no longer able to pay salaries. 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 on a daily basis across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, in order to serve the teeming population of Nigerians.”
However, it is demoralizing 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.
The body stated that the matter had also been brought before 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 but was still pending.