The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that illegal midstream discharge of petroleum products has thrived on Nigerian waters as a result of failure of Nigeria Customs Service to provide electronic cargo manifests to relevant agencies.
NIMASA also alleged that it is unable to monitor the amount of crude oil that is being lifted from any terminal in Nigeria and that it does not have a detailed list of oil rigs currently working in Nigeria.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Customs in Lagos last week, Chief Shipping Development Officer of NIMASA, Mr. Momoh Alhassan appealed to the Customs Comptroller General; Col Hameed Ali (rtd) to make electronic manifests of ships available to NIMASA.
"We are seeking for the Nigeria Customs to allow us have access to electronic manifest, today, whether we like it or not, it has become an instrument for national security and instrument of revenue for government agencies in the port"
"For instance, we are faced right now with the challenge of mid-stream discharge, I have been to EFCC over times over mid-stream discharge, and we found out that the permit is granted by the Nigeria Customs, NIMASA does not have access to it" he said .
Alhassan lamented that NIMASA does not have the statistics of the oil rig platforms and FPSOs on Nigerian territorial waters, and that she equally needs this information from customs for revenue generation.
According to him, it takes NIMASA as long as one month to access cargo manifest from shipping agents and the delay is because of Customs procedure.
"We all need your manifest, every government agency in the port cannot carry out their assignment without Customs, they are very important in the maritime industry"
"We cannot go to the high seas to monitor vessels involved in midstream discharge with the Navy without Customs. We cannot go the terminal to see the quantity of crude oil being lifted in this country without the corporation of Customs, DPR and NPA. So most agencies cannot do their job without NPA and customs"
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