Fuel marketers plan strike, give NMDPRA ultimatum till July end
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Claims by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that it has paid N74 billion bridging claims to marketers has been dismissed by theNorthern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum (NIPMF).
NMDPRA Chief Executive Farouk Ahmad disclosed in Abuja on 9 June that the money has in the past seven months but NIPMF Chairman Musa Maikifi has countered in Kano it is not true and warned that his members will protest by strike.
Maikifi insisted NIPMF members have not been paid since June 2021 and gave NMDPRA an ultimatum till the end of July to pay up or marketers would go on strike.
“The claim that Mr. Farouk Ahmad made on the 29th of last month that he has been paying Independent Petroleum Marketers bridging claims to the tune of N42 billion is not true,” he said.
“A couple of months ago, he paid some selected marketers huge amount of money, maybe he was referring to those marketers.
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“Our general marketers, comprising nine depots under my leadership: Kano, Kaduna, Gusau, Suleja, Minna, Maiduguri, Gombe, Yola and, Jos, did not get such money,” Maikifi added, according to Vanguard.
“All the money we are using to lift the product is now with him, so, in the next few months, we won’t be able to buy the little product people are seeing now. We can’t even afford to buy it because all the money is now under his custody.
“We have given him up to the end of this month. If he refuses to pay us our money, we are going to take an action that will not be good for him, the North and Nigeria at large.
“Before now, we used to receive our money in a month, two or three months at most, but now, it’s more than a year. The last payment we received was May last year.
“If nothing comes up by the end of this month, we are going to collaborate with our mother association, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), to make sure we take serious action that will not be good for him and everybody.’’