Crude Oil: ‘Nigeria Loses $700m Monthly To Foreign Ship Owners’

L-R: Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, wife of Abia State Governor Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu, wife of Abia State Deputy Governor, Mrs Vivian Ude Okochukwu and wife of Nigerian First Military Head of State, Mrs Victoria Aguiyi Ironsi, during a courtesy call on the wife of the President by Abia State Women at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday

The President, Nigeria Indigenous Ship Owners Association (NISA), Mr Aminu Umar, has said the nation was losing $700 million monthly (N137.9 billion) to dominance of crude oil shipment by foreign ship owners.
Umar made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen yesterday in Lagos on the sideline of the Annual General Meeting of the association.
He urged the Federal Government to grant indigenous ship owners between 10 to 20 per cent allocation in lifting crude oil.
The ship owner said that Nigeria was losing a huge amount of money due to the fact that the foreign ship owners had dominated the transportation of crude oil.
“Almost 70 to 77 crude oil vessels load oil monthly out of Nigeria.
“The foreign ship owners do not employ Nigerians and they do not pay tax.
“What we are telling the Federal Government is to give us the support so that we can take at least 10 per cent of the crude oil vessels operating in Nigerian waters,“ Umar said.
He said that if government could give indigenous ship owners 10 per cent allocation to lift crude oil, they would create jobs for the teeming youths and would retain the proceeds in the nation’s banks.
Umar said that indigenous ship owners would also pay tax which would assist the government in its responsibilities.
He said that the association was ready to partner with the government to check the shortcomings in crude oil trade.
Umar noted that there was zero participation by indigenous ship owners in transportation of crude oil.
The ship owner said that government’s policy had not been supporting indigenous ship owner.
He urged government to give indigenous ship owners maximum support and to also create a conducive environment for them to excel.
Umar said that the recent changes in leadership of the maritime sector had slowed the association down in arranging meetings with both the minister of transportation and heads of maritime agencies.
He said that the association would like to partner with government for proper understanding of the maritime industry as an alternative to foreign exchange challenge confronting the nation.
Umar said that freight earnings through the maritime industry could be an alternative source of revenue, if government could grant at least 10 per cent of indigenous ship owners the licence to lift crude oil.
Union Gives Caverton Helicopters Ultimatum To Reinstate Workers’ Salaries
An aviation trade union, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), has given Caverton Helicopters Limited until May 4 to reinstate its workers’ salaries or face an industrial action.
NUATE’s General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, told newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, that it was wrong for Caverton Helicopters to unilaterally slash the salaries of some of its workers by over 50 per cent without considering their plights.
Our correspondent reports that the airline’s management and the aviation union had been involved in labour disputes over allegations of persistent anti-labour practices by the company.
However, following the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the airline’s management had pleaded for more time to fashion out how the workers’ salaries could be harmonised.
He said that the airline had reinstated the salaries of its staff members in Warri and Port Harcourt due to pressures from the host communities.
According to him, it is unfortunate that its Lagos staff members are being treated differently.
“At the meeting with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the union agreed to give Caverton Management till May 4 to reinstate the salaries.
“If they fail to do so by then, we will go ahead and shut down their operations in Lagos,’’ Abioye said.
It would be recalled that the Managing Director of Caverton Helicopters Limited, Mr Josiah Choms, had told aviation correspondents that the company only reduced the salaries of the workers which had been paid up to date.
Choms had said that the clientele of the company had reduced due to the fall in oil prices, adding that management had tried to explain the situation on ground to the union.