No record of fuel importation by NNPC – Customs

[emezico]

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Monitoring of the Subsidy Regime heard on Tuesday that the exact quantity of petrol on which subsidy was being charged might not be known as there were no verifiable records of importation into the country.

It also heard that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had not paid any duty to the Federal Government on imported petrol since 2002 owing to a presidential waiver.

Prior to 2002, the corporation allegedly owed the Nigeria Customs Service over N46bn as accrued duty on petrol.

These revelations were made in Abuja when the NCS testified before the Farouk Lawan-led committee investigating the administration of subsidy funds in the country.

The Deputy Comptroller-General (Accounts and Tariffs), NCS, Mr. Julius Nwogu, who represented the service, said the practice over the years was that "Mother Vessels" berthed off-shore to discharge products instead of going to designated ports.

While on the high seas, Nwogu said that the vessels discharged the products into "smaller vessels" for onward delivery to the ports.

He told the committee that the manifest accompanying the smaller vessels usually indicated that the product came from either "offshore Cotonu" or "offshore Lome" as the case might be.

He explained that since customs personnel were barred from examining offshore vessels, they could not determine the exact quantity of products the vessels brought into the country.

According to him, efforts by the NCS to engage NNPC over the "illegal operations" yielded no results because the corporation had the backing of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Nwogu added, "The Customs and Excise Management Act provides that vessels from foreign countries must berth at the ports of destination, not at unapproved locations. So, what the NNPC does are illegal operations. NNPC argued that there would be scarcity of products if the process is delayed and the vessels are not allowed to discharge at private jetties.

"Most of the time, no documents are attached to the vessels. Most of the petrol consignments imported by the NNPC have no documents attached to them; only the private marketers make declaration to Customs. The NNPC, till date, does not make any declaration to Customs and no LGDs are made."

Nwogu stated that the agency gave up the fight after the Ministry of Finance wrote a letter asking it to hands off the issue of documentation and compliance with due process.

"They told us that insisting on the rules will cause crisis in the supply of products," he informed the committee members.

Nwogu also revealed that despite being a member of the board of the PPPRA, the Customs was not involved in the "process of verification for payment of subsidies."


Punch