Oil dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, declared that it would shut down the 30,000 stations operated by IPMAN members across the country if the Federal Government fails to pay the N200bn it owes marketers.
IPMAN specifically said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, an agency of the Federal Government, had refused to clear the debt, which had continued to accrue since September 2022.
It disclosed this in a communiqué issued in Abuja by the Chairman of IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, Yahaya Alhassan, over the non-payment of marketers’ bridging claims.
IPMAN controls over 30,000 filling stations in Nigeria.
Bridging claims are payments made by the government to oil marketers for the transportation of petroleum products loaded from depots to various states across the country.
Consequently, according to the IPMAN official, the banks have taken over the business premises of many of our members.
