In the memo,
NPA claimed that the Federal Government was losing revenue on oil and gas cargo
handling in some terminals. The reason for these losses, it stated further, is
that, “whereas, a Multi Purpose Terminal may handle Oil
and Gas related cargo and charge the lower rate of $1.12 per tonne for General
Cargo, the same cargo meant for the 10Cs and handled in a designated Oil and
Gas Terminal will attract $5.82 per tonne”.
NPA then
concluded that, “as an interim measure, the expected
vessels to call at Julius Berger should pay $5.82 per tonne to prevent
diversion of vessels to neighbouring countries”.
A cursory
look at this internal memo will expose its hoax and contradiction. Firstly,
there is nothing called Oil and Gas Cargo from the port reform documents of
2006, through the memorandum of agreement binding all the concessionaires.
Neither was the term mentioned in NPA’s Annual. It was simply not in their
lexicon. There are only three recognized cargo types: Container, Bulk and General Cargo.
Stake holders also know this.
What we have
is multipurpose terminal and all the terminals in the eastern zone, in Nigeria,
are multi-purpose terminals and therefore can and have been handling general
cargoes that include pipes and other items that are now dubiously tagged oil
and gas cargoes.
NPA claimed
that while a multi-purpose terminal may handle so-called oil and gas cargo and
pay $1.21 per tonne, a so-named oil and gas designated terminal would pay $5.82
for the same cargo. This is deceptive simply because the ports and terminal
operators after the concession negotiated with the federal government and an
agreement was reached to pay $1 per tonne, for the cargo handled, to the
government before the terminals were handed over to the owners. Over time, it
was increased to $1.21. Of critical importance is the fact that these terminals
charge $7.40 per tonne for the discharge and loading of cargo and then remit
the agreed $1.21 to the government. The $7.40 charged by Terminal Operators is
for direct discharge, devoid of rent or transfer charges from the ship to the
stacking area. The only exception to the port rule, the only organization that
cargo owners are compelled by NPA to patronise at far higher costs is INTELS.
This is the
only terminal that charges $65 per tonne and remits only $5.82 to the federal
government’s vault. NPA’s memo of November 11 is, therefore, a legitimisation
of INTELS charges. In 2006, when NPA started the heinous activity of diverting
what it dubbed ‘oil and gas cargoes, the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo intervened, set up a panel headed by Dr. A.S.P Sekibo, which submitted its
report on May 16, 2006 recommending, among others, the need for government to
curtail the proximity of INTELS management to the political class. The report
also recommended that “importers of oil and gas related
cargo should be free to choose their ports of preference”.
But this was
not the end of the ritual of economic sabotage and impunity at the ports. In
2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
re-affirmed Obasanjo’s government for importers to freely choose the ports that
appealed to them. He ordered the minister to publish his government’s position
in a national newspaper, which he duly complied with in The Guardian of Monday,
August 18, 2008, stating: “Notice is hereby given that importers
of oil and gas related cargoes are free to choose their port of discharge for
their cargoes. This notice supersedes an earlier directive stipulating
particular ports of discharge for such cargoes”.
But on April
27, 2015, under the administration of Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, NPA sent a directive to all port Terminal Operators,
Shipping companies etc , to the effect that ‘oil and gas related cargoes must
berth at the designated terminals in Onne, Warri and Calabar. These three ports
are controlled exclusively by INTELS. Naturally, this directive prompted ports
operators to besiege the courts with a flurry of litigations to seek redress.
These cases are still pending.
NPA’s memo
of November 11, 2015, is an endorsement of impunity at the ports. The imposition
of fee on terminal operators, jangles with the object of the port reforms which
is to enhance competition and reduce the cost of doing business at Nigerian
Ports. This will be a bad omen for the terminal operators, NPA and indeed
Nigerian economy at large. (Guardian)
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