▪︎ As FG grants six companies approval to import petroleum products in the month of July
The Federal Government has granted shipowners operating on its waterways a three-month window to pay off their outstanding taxes, accumulating to millions of dollars, dating back almost a decade from 2010 to 2019.
According to the government, failure to comply, the vessel owners risk being barred from operating in the country’s ports.
It’s worth noting that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had recently sent requests to the companies for outstanding taxes.
The periods covered from 2010 to 2019, and each vessel’s demand amounts to between $400,000 and $1.1 million, getting to millions of dollars.
Briefing State House Correspondents after the meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Dr Zachaeus Adedeji
and representatives of the shipowners, said the issue had been resolved.
He said the Nigerian government had now given the vessels’ owners a window of three months to pay the taxes and balance their accounts.
According to Adedeji, “We’ve now resolved within ourselves to settle this issue as quickly as possible, just to make sure that we don’t affect the flow of the products in and outside the country.
“We also made it clear that Nigeria will not accept any blackmail by defaulters, who are not complying with our laws. We have laws and they must be respected and obeyed.
“However, we will not detain or arrest any defaulting ship or vessel because this is what is causing panic. We’ve sent them demand notice and then they’ve also come and the agreement is that we should give them time. So we’ve agreed to set up the technical committee to resolve these issues.”
Adedeji said that they held an interactive session within the stakeholders; oil and gas regulators, Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue and Presidency, represented by Special Adviser on Revenue and the Special Adviser on Energy; and have agreed to resolve this issue.
“There was demand notice, which was issued to the vessel owners or chattered, as it were, which is in accordance with the Nigerian tax law, that they should remit the tax deal to them, for the last ten years and that there were concerns about the timing of compliance or afraid of the enforcement.
“The technical committee will comprise of the regulator, which is NUPRC, NMDRA, NNPC, FIRS, and the Presidency, in the Office of Chief of Staff, SA Energy and SA Revenue and the Secretariat is at the Federal Inland Revenue,” he added.
Adedeji said the technical committee would look at the concerns and reconcile the backlog of taxes, and set a process that would ensure compliance going forward.
He said Nigeria was open for business and remained business friendly, as could be seen from the actions and pronouncements of President Bola Tinubu.
“We are open, but that is not to say that anybody will take advantage of the country. We have the law and the law must be respected,” he explained.
Meanwhile, six companies have received approval to import petroleum products in the month of July.
The Managing Director of Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this to newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
He said apart from the six, several companies applied for permit to import petroleum in due course.
Ahmed also debunked insinuation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had given approval to Dangote Group to import petroleum, saying that the company had no powers to give such approval.
“There are several companies that applied for fuel importation permit. So, you can apply for importation to get access to the port. And by the way, we are open to all those who are interested in importing.
“We have guidelines which are not very stringent because we’re trying to encourage importation.
“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December in November, or anytime but those who expressed interest to bring in fuel in July there were six of them as of this morning.
“The beauty of it is that there are interests which means that they have been able to have access to foreign exchange in order to import.
“Now, as we go along, of course, we’ll be briefing you on the progress or the achievements so far, but the important thing is that NNPC has 30 days fuel sufficiency, so we do not anticipate any gap in supply or in distribution”, he said.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
