The Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) has cleared the air on the recent alarm raised by the Senate that a total of 282 ships arrived at the nation’s seaports without paying revenue into the covers of the Federal Government.
The Senate had last week given the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Hadiza Bala Usman four days to explain the whereabouts of over 282 vessels allegedly missing from the sea ports.
Chairman, Senate committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff; Senator Hope Uzodinma gave the ultimatum in Abuja, at an investigative hearing on N30 trillion allegedly lost through leakages in revenue collectable by Customs and other agencies.
The Senate had alleged that 282 Vessels got missing under the watch of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) between 2010 and 2016.
Uzodinma said the information on the vessels was imperative and must be available within four days.
“The NPA is the custodian of the vessels; it received the cargoes and the terminal is theirs.
“We want to know under whose authority the cargoes were released, “he said.
But, the NPA in a statement yesterday by its Principal Manager, Public Affairs; Mr Ibrahim Nasiru disclosed that many of the vessels that were listed as missing were not supported by inks to facilitate their tracing, if actually they were missing.
In the statement, NPA acknowledged receipt of documents from the Senate through the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. “ On Thursday, July 20, 2017, the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff handed over documents containing a list of 29 items which are a combination of vessels and details of individual Bill of Ladings of consignments carried by different vessels to representatives of NPA for review”
“In July 24, 2017, the NPA received another set of ten volumes of items numbering 1-1252 alleged to have been transported by vessels said to have called at the NPA. This was delivered to the Authority by the Nigerian Shippers Council on the instructions of the Senate Committee”, it confirmed.
The NPA however explained that, out of “the 29 items handed over to the NPA on July 20, 2017, only five vessels were identifiable. We discovered that the other 24 items are repetitions of the five vessels that were identified. A report to this effect with relevant supporting documents evidencing payment of all charges for the five vessels has been forwarded to the Senate Committee as requested”.
“Concerning the ten volumes of items numbering 1-1252 handed over to the NPA by the Nigerian Shippers Council, the NPA was unable to conduct a meaningful review as the documents did not provide the data that will enable verification”, the statement added.
The NPA specifically explained that: “No vessel names were provided, no dates of arrival of the vessels were given (This makes it impossible for us to establish links with the manifest, bill of lading and consignee)”.
According to the statement, the documents also contained “no port of call and name of terminal where vessel berthed were provided”, even as it added that “no rotation number of vessels was supplied”.
The statement also disclosed that, it has since replied the Senate adding that the NPA was waiting for the law makers to supply information concerning the supposedly missing ships.
“ The Authority has conveyed these observations to the Senate Committee and looks forward to receiving the required information to enable full investigation”, it added.
It however expressed commitment to efforts aimed at sanitizing port operations and will cooperate with all stakeholders, including the arms of government.
Customs Boss Directs Immediate Dismantling Of Illegal Check Points
The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), retired Col. Hameed Ali, has directed the immediate dismantling of all illegal check points in the country.
Ali announced this in a statement by the Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah yesterday in Abuja.
Attah said that the CGC directive was in line with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) drive to ease ways of doing business in Nigeria.
“The CGC reminded all commands that any check point mounted outside 40 kilometers(KM) to the land border is illegal while information patrols beyond the 40KM limit should not last more than 24 hours at any given time.
“The 40KM radius applies to land borders while no check point should be erected within the port areas,” Attah said.
He said that Ali had directed all Zonal Coordinators, Customs Area Controllers and Operatives of Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) to ensure strict compliance.
According to him, the CGC enjoins members of the business community to always comply with extant laws to help the service perform better.
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