A three-day warning strike was initiated by the Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum on Monday due to unpaid bridging claims totaling billions of naira.
On Monday, September 5, 2022, the Chairman, Musa Yahaya Maikifi, who was speaking to reporters at the NNPC Depot in Kano at the time, announced the start of the warning strike and requested that the marketers cease their services of product distribution from the nine depots under its control to the Northern region.
“We have made repeated attempts,” he said, “to ensure that our payment for the transfer of petroleum products from the South to the North was paid. However, they have resisted paying us.
“As we speak, not a single marketer has received payment since January. We received payment the last time in November and December of 2021.
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Due to the circumstances we found ourselves in this country—high gas prices, poor roads that frequently result in damage to our vehicles—we have been following up with them and holding meetings after meetings to make sure they pay us. However, getting them to honour our claims is becoming more challenging. This cannot go on like this.
Additionally, according to the agreement we struck with them, they must pay us within 48 hours. However, as I speak with you, they last made a payment in 2021 from November to December.
“We’ll get together to decide the next course of action if the government doesn’t take action.
“The decision we made today was also made in all the other depots throughout the north. Nine NNPC depots, including those at Kano, Kaduna, Suleja, Gusau, Minna, Jos, Maiduguri, Gombe, and Yola, are located throughout the North’s 19 states.
“We transport more than 200 trucks at Kano Depot alone every day. The same holds true for you other depots, though,” Maikifi said.
But reacting to the development in a statement on Tuesday night, the NMDPRA said it held a meeting with the Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum on September 5 and 6, 2022 with the participation of the NNPC Ltd.
It stated that during the meeting the authority informed the marketers that payment of their claims was ongoing and that over N103bn had been paid to marketers.
“Previous engagements and today’s meeting addressed issues regarding bridging claims and other matters,” it stated.
It added, “The authority would like to reiterate that payment of bridging claims is an ongoing process and payments are disbursed as it is received from marketers.
