The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria on Monday appealed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to pay its members their bridging claims of N500 billion.
Bridging claims is the cost of hauling petroleum products from refineries and depots to fuel stations.
Addressing a news conference in Kano, the state Chairman of IPMAN, Alhaji Bashir Danmalam, called on the Federal Government to prevail on the agency to pay the debt.
Danmalam warned that failure to pay marketers their outstanding claims could cause another disruption in fuel distribution.
He said the debt had forced many IPMAN members out of business.
He said: “The non-payment of the debt for over eight months has crippled the businesses of many members as they cannot transport available petroleum products.
“The resurfacing of fuel queues in Abuja is just a tip of the iceberg.
“Only 5 per cent of marketers are still in business.”
Danmalam noted that since the merging of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Equalisation Fund and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency into the NMDPRA, the agency had paid marketers only twice.
Danmalam called on the Federal Government to intervene before the situation degenerated into a serious fuel crisis spread to other parts of the country.
“We are not agitating for transportation fee increase; we are only clamouring for payment of our bridging claims that is more than N500 billion,” he stressed.
