The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has assured it will continue to honour and process claims for bridging of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to ensure product availability nationwide.
This, it hopes to achieve with the reimbursement of petrol marketers for trucking of products to filling stations to anywhere across the country in order to ensure price uniformity.
This disclosure was made by the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, when delegates from the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) paid a courtesy call on the Management Team of the Authority, on Thursday in Abuja.
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According to NAN, Ahmed said that the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA, 2021) which led to the creation of NMDPRA, may have raised some uncertainty on the continuation of the bridging scheme; whether or not bridging funds would continue to be paid to beneficiaries.
He assured NARTO and other stakeholders that all verified bridging obligations will be honoured and paid by the authority and as such, they should not panic.
Speaking earlier at the occasion, the National President of NARTO, Alhaji Yusuf Othman, informed the NMDPRA of the outstanding payments being owed its members by the Federal Government and expressed concern over the fact that some members were losing interest in the business of transporting PMS, which according to him, is no longer profitable.
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He then appealed for the upward review of the bridging funds on the pricing template.
He urged government to put in place policies that will not only address the current dwindling returns on investment but will, in addition, stimulate investment in the transportation and logistics of petroleum products in the country.
What you should know
- Recall that in October 2021, the Federal Government officially announced the scrapping of the Department of Petroleum (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).
- This came after the take-off of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
- The NMDPRA encompasses a merger of 3 defunct regulatory agencies namely; Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalization Fund {Management} Board (PEFMB), the Midstream and Downstream Divisions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
- PEF, which was saddled with the responsibility of processing and making payment for these bridging fund claims, had its functions transferred to the new NMDPRA.
