Nigeria lost $100bnto foreign crude tankers-NCDMB

The Nigerian economy lost over $100bn infive decades by allowing its crude oil to be carried exclusively by foreign owned tankers, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Ernest Nwapa has said.

Speaking at the launch of two brand new 45,000 metric tons tanker vessels-MT Abiola and MT Igbinosa by an indigenous firm, Ocean Marine Tankers (OMT),Nwapa said the country also lost opportunities to build a virile national carrier fleet on the back of the hundreds of millions of barrels exported every year and equally missed opportunities to train and utilise youths especially from maritime communities of the Niger Delta in formal shipping activities.

He expressed happiness that the trend began to change with the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan and emboldening of relevant officials and agencies to insist that indigenously owned tankers should carry Nigerian