…As NSCDC generates N4m revenue in Oyo state in 6 months***
The President, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, NPA Branch, Mr Ifeanyi Mazeli has stressed the need for workers in the maritime sector to ensure appropriate invoicing of all Ship-To-Ship (STS) operations, within the nation’s ports.
Mazeli made the observation, Thursday in Lagos, urged the Nigeria Ports Authority not to give waiver to illegal STS operators, as such gesture would further fuel revenue leakage.
Mazeli posited that trans-loading of products in midstream would result in huge loss of revenue, particularly, if the operators would not be made to pay accrued charges.
“The union does not want issues that will destabilize the industry”, he indicated, stressing that illegal STS operations are a huge source of revenue leakage for Nigeria, insisting that since there was no midstream refinery, it was doubtful companies operating in midstream were not getting their products through STS.
”We (maritime workers) know that there is no refinery at midstream even if a company claims to be bringing its product from Lagos shore or Cotonu shore,’’ he indicated further, while appealing to companies engaging in STS to pay the right charges to boost government revenues from ports.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Command in Oyo state has generated a remarkable sum of about N4 million as revenue from registration of private guard companies between January and June 2018.
The Public Relations’ Officer of the command, Mr Olusegun Oluwole who disclosed this today in Ibadan, also explained that the anti-fraud unit of the command also recovered N26.8 million from fraudsters which has now been returned to the owners in the months under review.
He said 731 approved private guard companies are currently operating in the state and some of them have been undergoing training with the command; adding that the state commandant of the corps, John Adewoye, has vowed to sanction private guard companies operating illegally or failed to adhere to the rules and regulation guiding their operations in the state.
He further said that anti-vandalism unit of the command also apprehended two tankers loaded with 66,000 litres of petrol, adding that the drivers abandoned the tankers and ran away.
Oluwole said that investigation was on going at arrest the drivers as well as the owner of the product.
The spokesman said the command has been mounting regular surveillance on NNPC pipelines to ensure that they were not vandalised.
“The command’s anti-human trafficking and child protection unit treated 16 cases, while the crisis management and disaster unit handled nine cases.
“The peace and conflict resolution unit handled 90 cases.
“We are able to achieve these successes because the welfare of officers, training and retraining are paramount in the mind of our commandant, ’’ Oluwole said.
