The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Shettima, has told the FCT Director of the Department of State Services, Usman Dauda, that the Nigerian National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has yet to pay all its fuel bridging claims.
According to a release by IPMAN, Shettima led a delegation of IPMAN to Dauda on Tuesday. During the meeting, he acknowledged the “giant strides” of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He also recognised the efforts of the Director-General of the DSS, Adeola Ajayi, for his partnership with IPMAN, which he said has seen IPMAN translate its demands into actionable dividends for its members.
He commended the DSS for facilitating the partial payment of the outstanding bridging claims from the NMDPRA.
“The National President, however, informed the gathering that there were still more debts yet unpaid by the NMDPRA,” the release partly read.
An official of IPMAN, who did not want to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told our correspondent exclusively that the NMDPRA paid N50bn out of the N200bn debt.
Bridging claims are payments made by the government to oil marketers for transporting petroleum products loaded from depots to various states across the country. This allows them to sell fuel at the same rate, no matter the logistics cost.
The DSS intervened last year when IPMAN declared that it would shut down the 30,000 stations operated by its members if the Federal Government failed to pay the N200bn owed to marketers.
IPMAN specifically said the NMDPRA had refused to clear the debt, which had continued to accrue since September 2022. The intervention of the DSS DG brokered peace and led to the partial payment of the debt.
Shettima applauded Usman Dauda for the peace being recorded in the FCT while giving his assurances that IPMAN will be ready to cooperate with the agency to promote peace.
The State Director of Security, FCT Command, Dauda, appreciated IPMAN’s courtesy visit, acknowledging its partnership in fostering the welfare of the country as critical stakeholders in ensuring Nigerians’ sustainable livelihood.
Dauda declared his support for the administration of Shettima as the national president of IPΜΑΝ.