Oluyinka Onigbinde
The National Association of Stevedoring Operators (NASO) has lamented the non-compliance of International Oil Companies (IOCs) with the Extant Stevedoring Regulations known as Government Marine Notice 106 of 2014.
Speaking on Wednesday during an interactive session with the media, the national president of the association; Mr. Bolaji Sunmola said the country is losing billions of naira, owing to the refusal of the IOCs to allow stevedoring agents of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to work on their platforms.
He said despite government’s directive to the IOCs to comply, many of them have refused. He also described many of the Managing Directors of the IOCs as ‘puppets’ who can’t implement the directive of the Federal Government unless they report back to their home countries.
Explaining further, he said the IOCs have refused to allow stevedores onboard their platforms because the IOCs are hiding the actual volume of crude oil being lifted daily. He alleged that payment that would have been for indigenous dockworkers are stolen by the IOCs.
He said: “They(IOCs) don’t want us to have the true number of crude oil they are lifting and that is why they have not been engaging us. If you accumulate all these, it runs into billions of Naira.
“Payment to dockworkers are stolen, taxes are stolen, Federal Inland Revenue Service is losing money, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is losing money. They don’t want us to have the true number of crude oil they are lifting and that is why they have not been engaging us. If you accumulate all these, it runs into billions of naira.
Justifying the need for Nigerian stevedores to be involved, he added, “anywhere there is cargo that is where we are. There are cargoes on the offshore and onshore marginal filed; anywhere cargos are being moved and cargo means everything”.
“And there are lots of cargo movements and it is the work of NPA and the government must earn from it and that is the billions the government is losing over the years till when this association came”, he said.
Speaking on the alleged N70 million fraud, for which he was accused, Sunmonla, debunked claims by an online publication, which accused him and his executive of fraud.
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In denying the allegation, Sunmola explained that membership of the association was a requirement of a Public Notice (No:4035) by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) titled: “Expression of Interest (IOE) For The Appointment of Stevedores At All Pilotage Districts And Crude Oil Terminals.”
However, he confirmed that for any stevedoring company to join the association, it charges N250,000, even as he pointed out that since the bidding process of 2017, there has not been any other bidding process.
Stating his own side of the story, Sunmola said: “It is untrue that we went to NPA to plead for them to give us slot. We sold the idea to Nigerian Ports Authority because there is nothing we can do without the NPA; if they said they are not interested, there is nothing we can do”.
“We need to train our people; we need to show our people how to be professionals in offshore stevedoring. If before, the registration is N100,000; things are changing, we decided at the executive level to make it easier that this thing should be N250,000 to register as a member it doesn’t have anything to do with NPA”.
“This is a professional body and we work hard beyond what you are thinking to get from the onshore to offshore level. It was not an easy thing to convince the IOCs, because they are even fighting us that we have no job there; that there is no stevedoring activity there. When you are talking about stevedoring, people think it ends at the ports. There are lots of operations there and there is also cargo handling”.
“We sold the idea to NPA, because there is nothing we can do without the NPA, if they said they are not interested there is nothing we can do” he said.
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