THE Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to pay bridging claims amounting to N100 billion.

The group threatened that should the agency fail to make the payment, it would embark on strike.

Bridging claims are payments made to transport fuel from depots to approved locations in Nigeria, to help ease the price burden on consumers.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, February 24, the chairman of the IPMAN depot chairmen forum, Yahaya Alhasan, said the seven-day ultimatum would take effect immediately.

“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 our members in bridging 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,” Alhasan said.

The ICIR  reports that in April 2024, IPMAN raised concerns about the non-payment of over N200 billion bridging claims.

It noted that the debt had accrued since September 2022 and demanded the NMDPRA to offset the debt.

In his press briefing on Monday, Alhasan said NMDPRA’s failure to pay the debt had further crippled members’ businesses.

He stressed that the delay in paying the debt has led to a loss of lives, closure of businesses, staff retrenchment, and the takeover of business premises by commercial banks.

According to him, the association will withdraw its services if the amount is not paid before the deadline.

Their action followed the NMDPRA’s failure to clear the debt, despite earlier promises, Alhasan noted.

He recalled one of the promises made by the NMDPRA at the stakeholders’ meeting convened on the eve of the last strike action declared by the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

Alhasan said depots in the North, including in Jos, Gusau, Minna, Suleja, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Yola, and Maiduguri, had become completely grounded due to the lingering debt.

He said IPMAN was concerned over other issues, including a five per cent levy imposed on its members by NMDPRA on the sale of petrol stations, describing it as unconstitutional and anti-developmental.

“Another worrisome development is the NMDPRA’s imposition of several abnormal levies on our members. Chief amongst them is the imposition of a five per cent commission accruable to them at the sale of any petrol station outlet in Nigeria. Tell me, when has the NMDPRA turned herself into a real estate agent, collecting a commission on sales of Retail Petrol Outlets? There is no gainsaying the truism that the downstream retail industry is an ever-evolving one,” Alhasan said.

He said IPMAN members have been having difficulties in maintaining and renovating their petrol outlets due to further excessive levies imposed by the NMDPRA.

“As IPMAN members, we go the extra mile to renovate our outlets occasionally, to meet with international best practices. However, the NMDPRA has also made this very difficult for us, as they have also 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, they are 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 monies in bulk and clear the bridging claims. But given their constant refusal, we have therefore decided to liaise with our sister organisations, the PTD and NART, to take collective action in due course. As members of IPMAN, it is important to state that we also own sizeable numbers of petroleum tankers driven by the PTD, and we may be forced to withdraw our tankers from loading petroleum products in a view to enforce the immediate payment of our bridging and NTA claims,” Alhasan stressed.

The association called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the disputes.

“We will not hesitate to immediately take action in due course if our demands are not met immediately, beginning from today Monday 24th February 2025,” he noted.