The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has advised Nigerians to brace themselves for the biggest gasoline crisis in history.
To avert this, the Petrol Marketers Association requested that the Federal Government compel the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to pay its members’ outstanding bridging claims totaling more than N500 billion.
Bashir Danmalam, the IPMAN chairman in Kano State, made the statements during a news conference on Monday.
He said that the NMDPRA’s inability to pay bridging claims, also known as transportation claims, had put many of its members out of business since they couldn’t carry the commodities owing to the high cost of diesel.
He 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.
“NMDPRA is responsible for the payment of bridging claims otherwise known as transportation.
Read Also:Bandits kidnap village head, demand petrol, recharge cards
“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 per cent, only five per cent of the marketers can supply the petroleum products because of the failure of NMDPRA to pay them.”
