By Jide Ajani

The policy of certification introduced by the Naval Headquarters regarding ‘ship to ship’ (STS) discharge of petroleum products is threatening to create scarcity of the products in the country, Sunday Vanguard can report authoritatively.

This threat is coming in the form of delays in getting the military command to certify ‘STS’ operations.

There are fears the delays ‘would affect the funds expected to accrue to the Federation Account because the cost  has to be deducted from source and the balance remitted to the Account.

What goes into the Federation Account is net of the total operations from the  crude lifted  for sale.

Indeed, at press time, the exercise, a process by which the Navy High Command gives a signal from its Abuja headquarters before a vessel carrying petroleum products is allowed to discharge its content into a sister vessel, is said to be causing the delay of STS discharge by some vessels.

The signal, which is supposed to be given within 24hours of notification, is said to be creating a backlog on Nigeria’s waters.

The reason, Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed, is as a result of the recent change of guards at the highest echelon of the Navy.

Penultimate week, President Goodluck Jonathan replaced service chiefs. The new Chief of the Naval Staff is Rear Admiral Usman O. Jibrin.

He replaced Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba
At the weekend, MT RHEMA, one of the mother vessels used for bringing in petroleum products, was said to have been delayed for over 20 days because it could not discharge into its daughter vessel, MT ANGEL 3.
Each day a vessel is delayed, the owner of the ship collects $20,000.
Sources told Sunday Vanguard, at the weekend,  that between MT RHEMA and MT ANGEL 3, close to $1million had  piled up due to the delay.

That is not all.
A vessel, Torm Republican, was said to be waiting for naval signal and had not commenced discharge to a smaller vessel, Folawiyo.

Another vessel, Belisaire, was also said to be waiting for naval signal.
Then there is Princess Oge, with Energy Centurion, waiting for same signal; just as Cora A (STS) and Conger were equally waiting.

Sunday Vanguard was made to understand that activities such as these account for some of the discrepancies that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN,  noticed in the nation’s finances.

A source at the CBN informed that “with these delays and activities which result in fines, there is no way the figures would add up when the calculated projections are put on the table”.

It was learnt that the bigger anxiety is the possible scarcity this may cause – though in the short run. The involvement of the Navy was said to have begun when it was suspected that unscrupulous elements were using vessels to ship arms into the country under the guise of bringing petroleum products.

The naval authorities have been firm in insisting that it must inspect and make sure that vessels purported to be bringing in petroleum products do just that.

However, the Navy Headquarters expanded its scope of certification by insisting that if it does not give the signal, there should be no STS discharge.

Unfortunately, the 24hr time-line for this is being exceeded.

Worse still, many more ships may suffer the same fate if the delays continue.
Consequently, funds running into tens of millions of dollars would be paid as fines for delaying ships on Nigeria’s waters.

At the weekend, efforts were being made to alert the Group Managing Director of NNPC as well as the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources to this development.