Nigerians have been told to prepare for the worst fuel crisis in the land.
Giving the indication at a press conference in Kano State, on Monday, was the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria.
However, it stated that to avoid this, the Federal Government must prevail on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to pay its members their outstanding bridging claims.
The outstanding amount has risen to over N500 billion.
The Chairman of IPMAN in Kano State, Bashir Danmalam, said that the failure of the NMDPRA to pay the bridging (transportation) claims, forced many of its members out of business as they couldn’t transport the commodity due to 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.
“NMDPRA is responsible for the payment of bridging claims otherwise known as transportation claims.
“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.”
He stated that after the amalgamation of DPR, PEF, and PPRA to NMDPRA, the agency had paid them only two times.
Danmalam, therefore, called on the Federal Government to intervene before the situation degenerated into a serious fuel crisis and spread to other parts of the country.
According to him, Nigerians should not blame their members for the fuel scarcity but rather ascribe it to NMDPRA.
He said, “We are not agitating for a transportation fee increase; we are only clamouring for payment of our bridging claims that is over N500 billion.”
