The Federal Government has been encouraged to ensure the country’s petroleum sector is fully reformed to correct the illegalities in the sector.
The Director General, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, said this during his presentation before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on the monitoring of the fuel subsidy regime.
He said the country is losing a lot of revenue as a result of sharp practices in the maritime sector.
The NIMASA boss affirmed that most of the importers actually get their products from local refineries and when they get to the Lagos waters, they discharge same into another vessel, stating that the ship is now taken outside the country’s territorial waters and returned back to the country with the claim that the product was newly imported.
The NIMASA boss claimed that as the agency saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and regulating our waterways, the information cannot be anything but factual.
His claim has confirmed the authenticity of the Lamido Sanusi’s statement made during the town hall meeting on the proposed fuel subsidy in Lagos recently that the nation does not consume 35 million litres as stated and the federal government continues to dole out tax payers money.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, also encouraged the government to take definite steps to help the sector.
The union also insisted that the original OGIC report must be the take off point for the passage of the petroleum industry bill.
