NIMASA DG Pledges to Provide Enabling Environment for Dangote Refinery
NIMASA DG Pledges to Provide Enabling Environment for Dangote Refinery
Ruth Sunday
Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh (Left), OFR presenting a souvenir to Managing Director, Dangote Port Operations, Akin Omole during a courtesy visit by the MD to the NIMASA headquarters in Lagos.
The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR, says the Agency is committed to ensuring that the business of the Dangote Ports and refinery are not hindered by the implementation of the regulatory instrument under the provisions of the Cabotage law.
Dr. Jamoh, who made the promise when a delegation from Dangote Port operations, led by the Managing Director Dangote Port Operations, Mr Akin Omole paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Apapa, Lagos said the Agency will work with Dangote Ports to also ensure the Group does not breach any regulation of the Federal Government concerning Wet Cargo afreightment.
Both parties agreed to set up a working committee to address the operational concerns at the refinery within 14 days.
“I suggested a joint committee with membership from NIMASA and Dangote to sit down and look at issues objectively. Our priority is to ensure regulatory implementation does not impede the operations of Dangote Ports and by extension, Dangote Refinery. Though the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery would lead to a drop in NIMASA revenue, because ships importing petroleum products would reduce drastically thus reducing the 3% freight levy collected by the Agency. However, Nigerian economic growth and long term benefit to the Nigerian masses is far better than immediate revenue for NIMASA”. He said.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director Dangote Ports Operations, Mr. Akin Omole, said his team will ensure that the refinery is not in breach of the Cabotage Act.
In his words, “We talked about business being done in a way that there is no obstruction, no delay. “In shipping, a day’s delay is a huge cost, we have an average of over $50,000 demurrage on a ship per day, so we want to be sure that these kinds of delay are not experienced. All bottlenecks, hindrances that will cause the delay will be addressed jointly and collaboratively with our team and NIMASA team,” he said
