Chairman of the Nigeria Shipowners Association,
NISA, Capt. Niyi Labinjo, has said that the country is
losing N80 billion daily to petroleum products
smuggled into the country.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmen, Labinjo
explained that half the 1.8 million litres daily national
need of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, is smuggled into
the country.
The NISA boss noted that the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said the daily PMS
need of the country is 1.8 million litres and that it
(NNPC) only supplies half the quantity while the other
half is smuggled into the country.
He pointed out that this is done through the off-shore
Lome and off-shore-Benin. Giving a breakdown of the
loss, Labinjo pointed out that a 5,000 ton vessel laden
with Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, costs N600 million.
He said half of the 1.8 million litres comes to down to
900,000 and if divided by 5,000 equal 108 (5,000).
Should this be multiplied by N600 million, it comes
down to N108 billion and a large chunk of this
amount is lost daily through smuggling of the
product, he said.
He advised that the smuggling of petroleum products
through the off-shore Lome and off-shore-Benin
must be stopped because of the effect on the nation’s
economy.
This is outside the revenue that should have been
collected by the various government agencies like the
NPA, NIMASA, NCS etc should these ships have
berthed at the nation’s ports.
He said that the sector is more than capable of
providing the N2 trillion needed to fund the budget.
He said the economic crime against the nation is
being committed by foreign vessels that ship in these
product informing their countries that they are
headed for Nigeria, only for them to stop on the high
seas where these products are discharged into
smaller vessels and moved into Nigeria.
He noted that 68 percent of these products get into
the country unaccounted for and this costs the nation
huge revenue losses in terms of capital flight, since
the transaction is done in cash, (not captured in the
economy), creation of employment for foreign
countries, crew of each of the ships and negative
effects of balance of trade.
He said that Nigeria presently has no control over
about 200 vessels involved in this illegal trade outside
the nation’s territorial waterways and that alone
poses a security risk to the nation, especially with the
security situation in the country presently.
The retired Navy officer, stressed that government
must as a matter of urgency stop the smuggling of
petroleum products into the country, as well as
ensure that the Cabotage Law is enforced fully.

-Scan news