At a press conference held on 30th April, 2024 in Abuja, the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum expressed extreme distress over the laidback attitude of the leadership of the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), towards the survival of her member’s businesses, arising from NMDPRA’s deliberate delay and refusal in offsetting the debt of over N200 Billion owed her members. An act which they state has consequently led to the deaths of many of our members and the unfortunate collapse of their businesses.
The IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum also noted that some of her members have had to completely shut down their businesses, and retrenched their employees as they were no longer able to pay salaries.
In the press statement signed by Alh. Yahaya Alhassan on behalf of the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, they stated that they “have watched with apprehension also, the unpatriotic attitude of the leadership of the NMDPRA to offset this debt that has been accrued to IPMAN since September 2022. As
businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running on a daily basis across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, in order to serve the teeming population of Nigerians.
However, it is demoralizing to know that many of our members have gone bankrupt and have become financially insolvent as a result of their inability to meet their financial obligations to their banks, arising wholly from their inability to get their monies from the NMDPRA.” Earlier in February 2024, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, the
Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), had mandated Engr. Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Authority of NMDPRA, to clear the entire debt in 40 days. However, several months after the elapse of that timeline, the NMDPRA has only cleared the sum of N13Billion only. A move which the IPMAN Depot Chairmen described as shameful.
Despite all failed entreaties to meet amicably with the leadership of the NMDPRA, Alh. Yahaya Alhassan noted that the Depot
Chairmen had remained patriotic.
They expressed dismay at the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of the Sales and Storage License, by the
NMDPRA, and the subsequent delays in acquiring the license, which they members have been recently subjected to.
As IPMAN members, they called on Pres. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to closely look into this unwholesome figure which is highly detrimental to their business and reverse it forthwith, as it is bound to impact negatively on the masses thereafter. They described the over 500% increment on the Sales and Storage License by the NMDPRA as outright wickedness, and highly detrimental to their businesses.
Speaking to the press after the conference, the Chairman of the Depot Chairmen Forum Alh. Yahaya Alhassan, affirmed that they were poised to take far reaching decisions that may cripple the supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria, if their demands are not met within the shortest period of time.
More so, he clarified that the debts in question were monies the NMDPRA deducted, set aside, and collected from the marketers, to augment their cost of logistics. He said that the NMDPRA have illegally taken their monies and thus, is the highest level of fraud.
The Chairman of the Depot Chairmen Forum is consequently appealing to Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to please intervene in this quagmire that they have been subjected to by the NMDPRA. They categorically emphasized that if their demands are not met within the shortest period of time, they have already put their members on standby across the nation, as law abiding citizens, and were collectively prepared to withdraw their services, close every single outlet, and suspend lifting of products forthwith till their demands are fully met, an act which they opined will have terrible consequences, as every marketer’s outlet across Nigeria, from the North to the South, and from the East to the West, will be shut down.
