From Mustapha Adamu, Kano
The Northern Independent Petroleum Marketers Forum on Monday embarked on a three day warning strike over unpaid bridging claims accruing into billions of naira.
The Chairman, Musa Yahaya Maikifi announced the commencement of the warning strike while addressing newsmen at the NNPC Depot in Kano.
With the warning strike implies that the marketers will withdraw their services of lifting and distribution of the products from the nine depots under it jurisdiction to across the Northern region.
Maikifi said the warning strike became imperative to further press home it demand for the Federal Government to settle it claims.
He said the claims have continued to accumulated as the government was yet to pay any of the marketers since January till date.
According to him, “We have tried severally to ensure that our payment were paid for transportation of petroleum products from the South to the North. But they have refused to pay us.
“As I speak with you, no single marketer have been paid since January till date. The last time we were paid was November to December, 2021.
We have been following up with them, holding meetings upon meeting to ensure they pay us because of the circumstances we found ourselves in this country with regards to high cost of gas, bad roads which often result to damages of our vehicles and so we continue to run at lost but for them to pay us our claims is becoming difficult. We cannot continue this way.
“And in the arrangement we reached with them, they will pay us within 48 hours. But as I speak with you, the last payment they effected was last November to December in 2021.
“We have made several efforts but it yielded no positive results hence our resolve to embark on three day warning strike because we are going bankrupt.
“If the government failed to act, we will meet to decide the next line of action.
“The decision we took here today is simultaneously taken place in all the other depots across the north. In the North, we have 19 states and nine NNPC depots which includes that in Kano, Kaduna, Suleja, Gusau, Minna, Jos, Maiduguri, Gombe and Yola.
“In Kano Depot alone, in a day we transport over 200 trucks. The same thing applies to you other depots,” Maikifi said.
