The Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria has urged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to transact port charges in naira.
This is contained in a statement by the Second Vice Chairman of the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mahmood Tukur, on Sunday.
In November 2021, the federal government directed that port charges be collected in naira.
But Tukur says the agencies are yet to comply with the directive and have been collecting charges in dollars.
“Government gave directives that these agencies should henceforth charge marketers in Naira, but that hasnot been implemented. That’s a major challenge,” he said.
“The dollar price is practically driven by demand, if there is no supply, obviously the price will rise.
“So, every time a vessel needs to berth, we have to pay port charges in dollars.
“But we are saying that can be paid in naira. That’s one way of actually taking demand (for dollars) out of the market and it will cool the forex effects.”
The Chairman of DAPPMAN, Winifred Akpani attributed the increase in the price of petrol in Nigeria to the charging of freight charges in dollars and the difficulty in getting foreign currency from the Central Bank.
She talked about the cost of chartering a vessel that could convey 20,000 metric tonnes of petrol within Nigeria.
“That comes to about N220 million at the official forex rate of N440, and a whooping N440 million for petroleum marketers who have to source forex in the parallel market at N880,” she pointed out.
“This implies an additional cost of N11 per liter for this transaction due to the forex official/parallel market differential.
“For this same transaction, again charged in dollars, jetty fees come to N15.4 million at the official forex rate and N30.8 million for petroleum marketers who source from the parallel market.
“In the same vein, jetty berthing is charged in dollars and comes to N2.2 million at the official forex rate and N4.4 million at the parallel market.
“Then there are port dues (NPA and NIMASA) charged in dollars, which come to N71.51 million at the official forex rate and N142.796 million for marketers who source forex from the parallel market.”
Akpani also complained that independent petroleum marketers compete unfavorably with NNPC Limited.
She said NNPC, which was historically the supplier of last resort currently serves as the major oil downstream company in Nigeria with the acquisition of OVH.
“Without a level-playing field, especially one that guarantees access to dollars for all marketers at the official rate, the marketers’ ability to import products is continually and severely hampered.”
