FEC okays cargo e-tracking to curb revenue leakage

The Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday, approved the installation of Electronic Cargo Tracking Notes for seaports nationwide.

It said the ECTN would tackle several challenges, such as the under-declaration, concealment and wrong classification of cargos, which are “the primary causes of revenue leakages, insecurity and safety issues at the borders.”

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Sambo said the scheme, which is already operational in 26 African countries, would plug revenue leaks and is expected to generate between $90m-$235m annually for the FG.

The project will be co-implemented by a consortium of five Belgian companies and four indigenous logistics firms in a concession that will last for 15 years.

The revenue sharing formula will be 60-40 per cent, with the Federal Government taking the greater share.

The public-private partnership, Sambo said, would enable the tracking of oil exports and “eliminate oil theft” that has cost the government billions of dollars.

Between January and August 2022, Nigeria lost over $2bn to oil theft, an inquiry by the Senate found last November.

The findings which were presented to the Senate in a report revealed that only 66 per cent of the country’s oil production could be “effectively guaranteed.”

It said the other 33 per cent was affected by theft and lost production “due to the third-party easy access on land terrain.”

A month after the Senate’s findings, the National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), warned that the Federal Government might lost $23bn in 2023 if crude oil theft festers.

Monguno lamented that the country currently produces one million barrels of crude oil per day, 50 per cent of the two million barrels daily target set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

In his briefing on Wednesday, however, the Transportation Minister said, “Some of the benefits of the electronic cargo tracking note—which has been widely implemented in 26 African countries including our neighbours, Ghana, Senegal, Benin, Republic and Togo—is to take care of under-declaration at ports.”