Stakeholders decry diversion of oil and gas cargo to neighbouring ports

Following the report that importers of oil and gas cargo were diverting vessels from Onne port in Nigeria to Cotonou in Republic of Benin, stakeholders have taken turns to criticise this development, which they described as illegal and an economic sabotage.

According to them, the diversion was attributed to the importers’ protest against the federal government directive that owners of private jetties should discharge oil and gas carrying vessels at designated terminals and not at their jetties.

John Ikezugo, a legal practitioner said in a statement over the weekend in Abuja, that the diversion of Nigerian bound vessels carrying oil and gas cargo to any other port rather than the federal government designated terminal has succeeded in creating revenue loss to both government and investors. 

“There is no legal or administrative basis for diversion of Nigerian bound cargoes away from oil and gas designated terminals in Nigeria. Therefore, the action of those involved amounts to economic sabotage,” Ikezugo stated.

He said that some companies have also refused to comply with this federal government directive issued in April this year and have resorted to all sorts of tactics to operate from their comfort zones.

In his view, Kolawole Olatunbosun, a maritime expert said that the decision of the importers to divert Nigeria bound oil and gas cargo is a dangerous dimension to the defiance of the affected operators in resisting the implementation of federal government’s directive which in itself constitutes economic sabotage.

He said that the argument by the importers that they were shunning designated ports in the country because of arbitrary charges on services is just untrue.

Olatunbosun, who noted that the importers are fighting against market monopoly created by the directive, also stated that there are ports for certain types of cargo while some ports charge less for lighter cargoes, heavier and complicated cargoes which call for more sophisticated handling are more expensive to clear.

“Some importers prefer to take the risk of discharging their oil and gas cargo at cheaper rates in non-designated ports rather than at the appropriate terminals and this causes huge revenue loss to government. Government loses about $4.4 million per tonne of oil and gas cargo not discharged at the designated terminal,” he said.

He advised affected importers to channel their oil and gas cargo to the appropriate ports pending when the federal government addresses their grievances.