FG pays bridging claims amounting to N22.7 billion to petroleum transporters

The Federal Government of Nigeria has paid bridging claims amounting to N22.7 billion to petroleum products transporters in Nigeria.

This was made known by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr. Farouk Ahmed at an interactive section held in Lagos on Wednesday with the stakeholders of the downstream sector.

He also noted that the government will pay another N30 billion to the transporters within this week to ensure smooth distribution of petroleum products across the country.

What NMDPRA is saying

Mr Ahmed said regulations are being put in place by the Presidential Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources for the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

He said out of 38 regulations that relate to the NMDPRA, eight drafts have been received by the authority for review.

“The intention is to review these regulations and invite all the stakeholders to get input because we do not intend to do this alone.

”We need to invite stakeholders to review the regulations before they are put in place because the PIA is here to stay,” Mr Ahmed said

Speaking on payment of transporters he said, “Another area of concern is the transporters and payment of their bridging funds. Since the last meeting in December, we have paid about N12.7 billion to the transporters and on Jan. 24, we paid another N10 billion.

“This week, we are paying another N30 billion to transporters in a bid to give them respite because of the difficulties they are facing with the economic realities.”

“We had to do our due diligence to reconcile before we make the payment. The reconciliation is still ongoing and the more we collect, the more we pay, in order to catch up with the backlog we inherited,” Ahmed added.

Also speaking at the meeting. Mr Adeyemi Adetunji, the Group Executive Director, Downstream, NNPC Ltd. said that NNPC would play its role of being an energy supplier of last resort for the country.

He said to ensure that Nigerians have adequate quality flow of petroleum products, they will continue to subscribe to the highest standards of all the regulations in the industry and collaborate with stakeholders.

“We will continue to ensure that all petroleum products are available.“Thankfully, we went through the last festive season (Christmas/ New Year) with zero queues in the country.

“So, we thank all the stakeholders in the industry, we thank Nigerians for ensuring that they were able to access petroleum products at all retail stations and outlets.

“NNPC will continue to put in place and supply the market with adequate petroleum products even as we are now NNPC Ltd., a fully commercial company governed by both the PIA and Companies and Allied Matters Act,” Mr Adetunji said.

Olumide Adeosun, the Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), said a lot of the key issues brought by the marketers have been addressed.

He said, “Some are yet to be addressed and some are work-in-progress. A case in point over work in progress is the plan that we need to have in place post-announcement of the postponement of the subsidy removal with the PIA.”