Hadiza Bala Usman, the suspended managing director of the
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), says the agency under her leadership did not
exempt Dangote Group from paying statutory charges at the Onne Ports, Rivers
state.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Bala Usman described
allegation of flouting NPA rules as false and mischievous.
TheCable had exclusively reported that the administrative
panel set up by Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, to probe Usman will
now focus on “insubordination” and not solely a case of non-remittance of N165
billion to the consolidated revenue fund account (CFR).
Bala Usman said that all decisions on Onne Ports under her
management were in line with global practices in the maritime industry.
She said, a letter dated February 5, 2019, communicating the
NPA’s decision on the subject to the management of Intels Nigeria Limited
states in the last paragraph that, “Hence, the Authority therefore directs that
all cargoes of Messers Dangote Industries Limited and indeed all importers
being directed to Onne Ports for customs clearance. Specifically for these projects,
and are multi-purpose in nature to be treated by applying the same operational
rates used by other multi-purpose terminals.
“This paragraph is explicit about the fact that all
multi-purpose cargoes diverted to Onne were expected to benefit from this
directive.”
Bala Usman said until 2018 when the authority wrote after
the federal government approved the decategorisation of Onne Ports as the
solely designated oil and gas terminal in Nigeria, only oil and gas cargoes
called at the ports, contrary to global practices in the maritime industry.
“For reasons, which
included national security, ease of doing business as well as the need for
Nigeria to embrace international best practices, this oil and gas monopoly was
removed in 2018, with the effect that all categories of cargoes could call at
the Onne Ports. This means that importers could choose and have their cargoes
delivered at any of our port locations regardless of what their consignments
were.
“With that decision, it followed that tariffs must be
reviewed to reflect the specific category of cargo being imported as opposed to
the rates that existed when the Onne Ports received only oil and gas cargoes.
“This reality got more urgent when the congestion at the two
ports in Lagos became worsened by uncleared cargoes meant for construction at
the Petrochemicals Refining Gas and Fertilizer project of the Dangote Groups at
the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
“At a point, the company wrote to inform the Authority that
it was expecting 60,000 containers and one million metric tonnes Break Bulk
cargo. If these were allowed to proceed to Lagos, it would have turned into an
emergency.
“To avert this
situation and give the ports in Lagos some respite, the Authority advised
Dangote and other importers to utilise the Onne Ports, which has then been
decategorized from being an exclusive oil and gas facility.’’
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