The Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) has pointed out that foreign shipping firms evade the payment of basic requirement fees like customs duty while Nigerian vessels are demanded to fulfill all requirements.
This was noted in a petition by the association and signed by its President, Mkgeorge Onyung, and addressed to the National Assembly and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari.
The group said that Nigeria’s economy lost $100 million to capital flight following a contract entered into by the NNPC and a foreign company Messrs UNIBROS for coastal and bunkering services.
In the petition, the group pushed for a probe into the contract which, according to SOAN, is against three extant legislation including the Presidential Executive Order No.5, Nigerian content laws, and the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act (Cabotage Act) while exempting shipowners in Nigeria.
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“Take note that this contract award will result in amplification of capital flight, valued over $100 million annually to the detriment of our economy in addition to the fact that no customs import duty has been paid for any of the 11 vessels in question.
“Nigerian owned and flagged vessels are made to pay full customs duty and appropriate taxes on earnings, which foreign shipping companies have continually evaded illegally. UNIBROS and/or any other foreign shell company do not pay any tax to FIRS
“In the area of capacity building, no seafarer training or local content strategic plan is in place in line with the NOGCID laws. Neither UNIBROS nor any foreign shipowner or shipping company is made to comply with one of the major prequalification requirements for consideration in the coastal and bunkering vessels service tender process, being the submission and approval by NCDMB,” the petition stated partly.
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