N7trn lost annually as 282 ships vanish from ports – Senate, House Reps

The presiding officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA have been summoned to appear before the Senate on Thursday to explain how 282 ships disappeared from Nigerian ports between 2010 and 2016.

The invitation to the NPA officials came as Speaker Yakubu Dogara at another function disclosed that an estimated N7 trillion is lost annually through insecurity and revenue leakages in the waterways. Furthermore, it was also disclosed yesterday that the Nigerian Navy recovered over N420 billion or $1.17 billion of Nigerian stolen crude oil in 2016 alone.

This is different from the stolen oil worth N6.7 billion or $18.8 million destroyed in various illegal refineries between January and June 2017.

Besides, the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, which conducted a one-day hearing on smuggling in the country, also heard that goods worth N7 trillion are smuggled into Nigeria every year, just as it lamented that “the annual turnover in the hands of smugglers is more than our annual federal budget.”

Also, Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Chairman of the committee, also quoted a report that specifically said that over $15 billion or N4.35 trillion worth of goods were smuggled into the country each year. If you go by the projected revenue of the service for this year, which is approximately N600 billion, it means that the service will lose about N200 billion in revenue this year alone.

 

 

 

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