IPMAN Embarks On Strike In Nine Northern States Creating Fears Of A Looming Fuel Scarcity.
The Nigerian economy is already
becoming worse with each passing day. Strike and labor union actions have
become the order of the day. ASUU strike has been lingering for over 6 months
now.
Despite all these adversities, the Independent
Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Nine Northern states has
embarked on a three-day warning strike. This warning strike has sparked fears
that fuel scarcity could hit the country. They are embarking on a three-day
withdrawal of services over what they describe as non-payment of bridging claims
amounting to 70 billion Naira.
Abdulkadir Mustapha the spokesperson for IPMAN in Borno
State made this announcement on Monday 5th September 2022.
According to him, the non-payment of their claims has brought
untold hardship to their team members and failure to pay will result in an
indefinite strike which would result in shutting down all filling stations.
The report from DAILY TRUST
revealed that Mustapha called on the FG to intervene by prevailing the NMDPRA
to settle all outstanding claims to avoid an indefinite strike as this would
greatly affect fuel distribution across the northern region. The members of the
group that will embark on the strike are Borno, Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Benue,
Plateau, Gombe, Niger, and Sokoto.
Mustapha said;
“Hence we have resolved at our meeting held in Kano
state to withdraw our services at the depots for three days.
“Henceforth all products lifted must be settled or
paid for within the stipulated period of 30 days as earlier agreed. Failure to
do so will lead to the indefinite suspension of our services in all depots and
filling stations across the northern region.
“Though some few payments had been made which is less
than five percent of our claims the greater part of the claims had not been
settled. More so, no payment had been made concerning this year's claims, and a
lot of the year 2019/2021 remainsunpaid.
“For years, we have been following and lobbying the
management of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory
Authority (NMDPRA) regarding our unsettled bridging claims amounting to N70
billion to no avail.
“As
a peace-loving association, we urge the authorities to settle or pay all the
unsettled claims. We cannot be lifting fuel from the far South to the North
without being paid. Our decision to go for the warning strike is to draw the
attention of authorities to take action that's why we didn’t shut down our
outlets not to cause unnecessary hardship to the citizenry.”
Want your friends to read this too?
Kindly share on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
