STS At Cotonou, Lome: NIMASA Loses N1.6 Billion Monthly As CBN Accuses Customs

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  200 Nigerian Vessels Berth offshore

The  Nigerian Maritime Administration  and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is losing  a whopping  N1.6 billion  monthly to Ship – to- Shp (STS) operations  off Cotonou and Lome ports, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has  accused the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of being responsible for the foreign exchange policy  that gave rise to the booming shipping market at the neighboring  countries’  ports at the expense of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking with MMS Plus in Abuja recently, a former Director of Trade and Exchange Department, CBN, Dr. (Mrs) Omolara Akanji, who retired from the apex bank ten years ago, said that during her tenure at the bank they tried to review the policy but the customs authority would not want that. Although she did not explain the Customs’ reason for not consenting to the policy review, “I expected to see the Customs people here today but they are not here. When we were changing the INCOTERM rules we tried to review the rules (on foreign exchange that gave rise to ships berthing at neighboring countries’ ports). I wanted to take on the Customs one-on-one today.”

When told that the Customs authority had denied been responsible, she added:” Don’t mind them,” while explaining that she did not sign the policy as a Director.

MMS Plus Findings revealed that the policy was signed into operation in 1993 by Mrs. Osaretin Afusat Demuren, as Director Trade and Exchange Department. This means that Togo and Benin Republic have been feeding fat on Nigeria for 23 years now.

Efforts to get the spokesperson of NCS, Wale Adeniyi to react to this as usual proved abortive as he does not ever pick calls.

According to our findings, NIMASA loses 8,000,000 Dollars monthly in terms of 3 per cent freight on import which ought to be paid but is avoided due to the location of the vessels calling outside Nigerian jurisdiction.

“The ships that come into Lome are over 200 vessels in a month, if they had come to Nigeria they would have paid 3 percent levy to NIMASA which will be about $30,000 to $40,000 per vessel. When you multiply this by 200 we are talking of about $8,000,000 that NIMASA would have generated. Remember that when these ships come here, they will need water and Nigerians will supply and make money.” These were the statements of the President of Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Alhaji Aminu Umar.

“The ships will have to do STS transfer and lighterage operations but we are funding the people in Cotonou and Lome who are making money out of it as a result of our wrong policies. These vessels should have berthed in Lagos and we should have been generating money in several ways from chandling, tourism, hotels, and hospitality, etc.” he added.

“ The CBN some years back made a policy change when they said  that for any importer that wants to process a Letter of Credit to be able to pay his supplier, the bill of laden for that cargo must read, “ Discharge port Lagos” or “Load  port Lagos”. If it reads, “Load port Lagos” it will be automatically disqualified from obtaining access to foreign exchange to pay the supplier. Based on this, Nigerian importers decided to go to Cotonou and they have now moved to Lome. We have tried meet CBN to get them to change this policy.” Aminu added.

But a recent press statement from NCS, stated, “Intelligence reports reaching headquarters indicate some form of compromise by officers where deliberate acts of impunity are perpetuated through illegal berthing of ships/vessels and mid-stream discharge of cargo other than officially designated customs ports despite existing circular”.