BY GODFREY BIVBERE
Indigenous ship owners and other maritime professionals have faulted the Federal Government over the current disparity with foreigners on import duties collected on vessels for operations in the maritime industry in the country.

The operators made their position known in Lagos recently at a meeting between the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS), the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and indigenous ship owners.

Director-General of NCS, Mrs Ify Anazonwu-Akerele, highlighted the  challenges facing operators in the downstream oil and gas sector, saying that foreign operators were better favoured by the prevailing import duties on vessels.

Anazonwu-Akerele foreign operators are allowed under the import laws to bring vessels in on a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) at a negligible sum annually, when compared with the volume of business they engaged in.

According to her, “an indigenous operator brings in his vessels and pays importation duty of up to 13 per cent, thereby increasing the cost of the indigenous operators and places him at a competitive financial disadvantage with the foreign operator.”

On the other hand, foreign operators pays only five per cent as import duties, she noted.   Anazonwu-Akerele explained that for the foreign operator, the vessel could be re-exported after two years as required by the guidelines and re-imported three months after, with no import duties paid.

She suggested that Value Added Tax (VAT) should be zero-rated on the vessels, adding that this would drop the import cost incurred by the indigenous operators to seven per cent from 13 per cent, currently applicable.

This will bridge the gap between indigenous companies and the foreign companies who used the temporary import permit, she added. Anazonwu-Akerele also said the rate of company income tax and the various taxes which indigenous ship owners paid were very high.

“It is there therefore no wonder that the foreign operators can afford to  underbid the Nigerian companies in any commercial bid as they carry overall a lower cost structure in loans and import duties”, the NCS boss said.

She also said that shipping was a long-term business and so longer-term contract should be awarded by the NAPIMS, NNPC and the International Oil Companies (IOC).

Anazonwu-Akerele spoke against early contract termination clause, saying that termination of a long _term contract by the IOC without reason negated the longer tenor contract of five years.

She suggested the establishment of a standardised system of progressive compliance with the cabotage requirements

In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engineer Emeka Nwakpa said it was imperative to sit down with the ship owners and write to government through the Board concerning their challenges.

Nwakpa said Nigerians should be participating strongly in the maritime industry, saying that apart from job creation by the industry, technology transfer, the sovereignty of the nation was at stake.

“If we continue to use foreign vessels to do our businesses, what if something happens and foreigners pull out, are we going to be able to run the maritime industry alone, ‘’ he asked.

He said the situation had become so serious that the NCDMB had stopped processing marine tenders until the strategies for improving indigenous participation in shipping are perfected.

According to him, the IOCs are working out strategies to finalise this.

Nwakpa said the operators need to arrive at a common position on marine crew, ship registration, ownership and building of the vessels.

He said the focus for now must be on ownership to ascertain factors militating against ownership of vessels by Nigerians.

Nwakpa described the Temporary Import Permit as really a problem and wondered whether the issue must be taken back to the parliament for deliberation to instill some guidelines to enforce it.
He said the import permit made the foreigners to have more advantage over the indigenous operators.