Oluyinka Onigbinde
The President of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Dr Mkgeorge Onyung has disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is owing members of the association a whopping $90 million for charter services rendered.
Disclosing this to our correspondent in an exclusive interview, the President of SOAN, alleged that the NNPC has refused to pay the debt eight months after engaging their ships for charter services.
Onyung explained that some members of SOAN have been rendering charter services to the NNPC without being paid
According to him, “The market is so poor. The price NNPC is paying these indigenous ship owners is less than half of what the foreign ship owners get, yet the indigenous ship owners are being owed that much”.
Explaining further, he said: “At our last meeting, the ship owners agreed to first give NNPC a warning. We agreed that in two weeks’ time, if the NNPC has not paid any part or whole of its debt, ship owners will refuse to load petroleum products. And you know what this means. If ship owners refuse to load petroleum products, then there will be fuel scarcity in the country.
“Many of these ship owners are struggling to meet their financial obligations due to this debt. Many owe banks. Many are struggling to pay their workers’ salaries”.
Read Also: “ANLCA Is Mother Of All Associations, It is A Shame To Watch It Crash” – NAGAFF Chieftain
“There is a particular indigenous ship owner that is owed $75 million. Another company is being owed $3.5 million. The entire debt being owed to ship owners is running into over $90 million. These companies are struggling to stay afloat, due to this debt. With the economic situation in the country right now, you can imagine what these shipping companies are going through”.
“You know what it entails to manage a ship. You know the financial implications associated with managing a vessel. These indigenous ship owners get paid less than half of what the market says, yet NNPC is struggling to pay them”, he stated.
All efforts to get the reaction of NNPC Limited were abortive as phone calls and text messages sent to the spokesperson of the company; Garba Deen Muhammed were not responded to, up till the time of filling this report.
Kindly like us on Facebook/twitter
