The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has threatened to shut down all their marketing outlets nationwide over more than N200 billion in debts owed to them by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) from 2022.

They accused the NMDPRA of being defiant to directives given to them by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, since February 20 to clear the debt within the next 40 days.

The IPMAN Chairman, Depot Forum, in a communiqué, lamented that it is shameful that only the paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid, thus going the whole length to ignore the plight of marketers without remorse and recourse to the minister’s directive.

The unit Chairman, Aba Depot, Oliver Okolo, who is also the spokesperson of the forum, while reading the communiqué during a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, expressed dismay over the laid-back attitude of the leadership of NMDPRA towards the survival of their members’ businesses.

Okolo said that the claims are monies deducted from their members by the agency in the last two years, stressing that the money is in the purse of NMDPRA, and they are simply requesting that the money be returned to them.

He said: “The deliberate delay and refusal in offsetting the debt of over N200 billion owed our members by the NMDPRA has led to the death of many of us, as well as the collapse of their businesses.” Okolo noted that some of their members have completely shut down their businesses, and retrenched their employees, as they are no longer able to pay salaries.

They regretted that as indigenous business owners, rather than receiving government support to boost their businesses, they are being discouraged by the head of NMDPRA, saying that their efforts to get NMDPRA to explain the reason for the delay in payment have always been abortive.

The petroleum marketers further expressed concerns over the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of the Sales and Storage License by over 500 per cent, as well as delays in acquiring the license, which members of the association have recently been subjected to.

They, however, called on President Bola Tinubu to carefully look into the unwholesome figure and reverse it forthwith, as well as intervene in the lingering issues between IPMAN and NMDPRA. They threatened to cripple supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria if their demand is not met within the shortest possible time.

Speaking on the current fuel scarcity, the marketers alleged that it was triggered by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), as against claims that fuel marketers are hoarding the products.