NMDRA Pays Petroleum Products Transporters N22.7bn

Peter Uzoho

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has paid a total of N22.7 billion bridging fund, an element of petrol subsidy, to transporters of petroleum products since its establishment.

The Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, at the end of the quarterly meeting of the oil and gas midstream and downstream stakeholders for the discussion of relevant issues affecting the sector.

Aside the N22.7 billion already paid from December till date, Ahmed said additional N30 billion would be paid to the transporters this week.

He said the bridging fund claim was one of the major issues that were discussed and addressed at the meeting, adding that the money paid so far by the agency had surpassed the whole payment made in 2021 before it took over.

Ahmed explained: “Another area of concern is the transporters and payment of their bridging funds and since the last meeting of December, we have paid about N12.7 billion to the transporters.

“Last week Monday, we paid another N10 billion and 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.

“When we came in, we wanted to ensure that we do our due diligence before payment was done. What we paid in December has surpassed the whole of the payment made in 2021.”

We had to do our due diligence to ensure that those who are owing, we must reconcile before we make the payment.”

He said reconciliation was still ongoing, adding that the agency would continue to collect and pay to enable it catch up with the backlog it inherited.

The fund was managed by the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) before it was scrapped by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and its responsibilities subsumed into the NMDPRA.

Regarding the PIA, Ahmed said regulations were being put in place by the Presidential Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

He said about 37 to 38 regulations from the PIA relate to the midstream and downstream authority and that the agency had received about eight draft regulations that had been forwarded to the authority for review.

He explained that part of the intention of the yesterday’s meeting was to, “review those 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.”

Speaking on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Group Executive Director, Downstream, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, said NNPC would continue to ensure steady flow of petroleum products across the country as an energy supplier of last resort.

Adetunji, who said the deliberation at the stakeholders’ meeting was fruitful, vowed that the state oil company will continue to play in the sector with utmost responsibility and high standard as a fully commercial company governed by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and the PIA.

“We will continue to ensure that all petroleum products are available…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 CAMA.

“We will also continue to play our role as a responsible player and subscribe to the highest standards of all the regulations in the industry. We will continue to collaborate with all to ensure that Nigerians have adequate and quality flow of petroleum products at all times”, he said.

The Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Chief Executive Officer of Ardova Plc, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, said a lot of the key concerns they tabled before the meeting had been addressed, noting that some remained to be addressed and some were work in progress.

“A case in point over the work in progress is that we need to have in place a post- announcement of the postponement of the subsidy removal with the PIA,” Adeosun said.