Under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, oil dealers announced on Tuesday that if the Federal Government does not pay the N200 billion it owes marketers, they will close the 30,000 outlets run by IPMAN members nationwide.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, a Federal Government department, was expressly mentioned by IPMAN as having declined to pay off the debt, which has been accumulating since September 2022.
This was revealed in a statement released in Abuja by Yahaya Alhassan, the Chairman of the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, on the unpaid bridging claims of marketers. In Nigeria, IPMAN is in charge of about 30,000 gas stations.
According to Alhassan, there will be “terrible consequences” if NMDPRA is unable to pay the N200 billion, since every marketer’s store in Nigeria—from the East to the West and from the North to the South—will close.
“As IPMAN, we have done everything in our power to turn around this unfortunate and impending situation, which we know will not bode well for Nigerians,” he continued. “But, at this point, we have no choice but to make every effort in the coming days to address this ugly trend in our way, which will portend great hardship and danger for Nigerians.”
The IPMAN official noted that Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), and Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Advisor, had ordered Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, to pay off the entire debt in 40 days during a stakeholders’ meeting on February 20, 2024.
But as of today, the NMDPRA has had more than 40 days to pay off the debt, and it is disheartening to report that only a meager N13 billion had been paid. This means that the organization has completely disregarded our situation and has not even resorted to the minister’s order.
“Before now, we had taken the honourable path to continually seek an explanation from the NMDPRA on why it has blatantly refused to offset the remaining debt, but we have ceaselessly met brick walls,” Alhassan stated.
He claimed that because of NMDPRA’s willful delay and reluctance to pay down the organization’s over N200 billion in debt, IPMAN was very troubled and disheartened by the leadership of NMDPRA’s casual attitude toward the survival of the companies of its members.
As a result, several of our members have passed away, and their businesses have sadly collapsed. Disappointingly, some of our members have entirely closed their doors and laid off staff since we are unable to continue funding their salaries.
As a result, several of our members’ company locations have been taken over by banks, according to an IPMAN representative.
