By Godwin Oritse

THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has linked its computer system to the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) with a view to monitoring the movement of petroleum products and collecting the 2% Cabotage levy.

Disclosing this to Vanguard in Lagos recently, NIMASA’s Director-General Mr. Temisan Omatseye said that the agency now use ship manifest from Customs to get records of the vessels carrying petroleum products within the nation’s coastal waters.

Omatseye stated that for a long time, the agency has been in a running battle trying to reconcile accounts with some shipping firms that want to short-change the government by not declaring the true tonnage of their products.

The inter-connectivity, according to Omatseye has improved the revenue generation of the agency and stopped the shipping forms from playing smart.

The operator turned regulator also disclosed that the agency is being owed Cabotage fee running into millions of Dollar and the organisation is also making plans to ensure that they retrieve these monies from debtors.

Although, Ometseye was silent on the names of the debtors adding that  they are making plans to pay their debts.  He also disclosed that revenue collection has increased from $8.5million to about $19million every month.