Nigeria Indigenous Ship Owners Association, NISA, has disclosed that the nation is loosing a whopping sum of $700 million (N137.9 billion) because of the edge crude oil shipment by foreign ship owners have over there local counterpart.
The president, of the association Aminu Umar while speaking with newsmen in Lagos said government should support the local ship owners between 10 to 20 per cent allocation in lifting crude oil and the body will do everything it can in terms of meeting up with its tax payment.
According to him, NISA will help government tackle oil theft and other illegal activities that takes place around the sea.
“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,” Mr. Umar
Aminu, further said the association pledges to work with the Federal Government to have a round table discussion with the minister of transportation and heads of maritime agencies to see how they can utilize freight earnings from the maritime sector to make it an alternative source of revenue for the nation amid the continuous drop of oil price.
