INTELS remits $183.9mn revenue to Federation account in 10yrs

Ten years after the Federal Government through the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) handed over cargo handling operations to private investors, the Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited (INTELS), the concessionaire in charge of Onne Port in Rivers State, said it has remitted nothing less than $183.9 mn into the Federation account.

A breakdown of the 10-year revenue generation shows that in 2006, INTELS paid $10.3 mn to the Bureau of Private Enterprise (BPE) as commencement fee; $67.8 mn to NPA as lease fee; $35.7mn to NPA as throughput fee and $70.1 mn to NPA as land industrial area fee.

The commencement fee, which was 70.9 percent higher than maximum of $3 mn paid by other concessionaires, was based on the fact that INTELS was designated to handle a specialised cargo, known as oil and gas cargo while the others handle other cargoes.

While on an oversight function, Chibuisi Onyebueke, assistant general manager of INTELS dropped this hint in Onne Port last week during the visit of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport to the facility.

According to him, the firm paid higher entry fee of $10.3 mn dollars because the Onne port, which also houses Nigeria’s foremost Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone (OGFTZ), was originally designated as oil and gas port while other concessionaires- who paid as low as $2 to $3 mn – were designated to handle other cargoes like vehicles, containers, dry bulk among others.

“For every cargo that comes to Onne, we charge a tonnage fee of about $5.87 to government but in non oil and gas terminal it is $1.1 and this has resulted to people wanting to drag cargo that belongs to oil and gas terminal to those terminals that are non oil and gas designated so that they can pay less fees. At the end of the day, it is a direct revenue loss on the Nigerian government and our economy at large,” Onyebueke explained.

Onyebueke further disclosed that the act has led to illegal diversion of oil and gas related cargoes to other ports such that there is serious threat on the revenue to the NPA. He added that the equipment and infrastructural needs of the terminals concessioned to INTELS required much higher investment and specialised skills in contrast to other terminals. “As a result, the terminal was projected to yield higher returns to both the concessionaire and the government.”

The INTELS official, who stated that the incessant diversion of oil and gas cargo to non designated terminal posses huge threat to the ability of the terminal operator to meet the Guaranteed Minimum Tonnage (GMT) as required in the concession agreement, solicited the law markers’ assistance in making sure that such ‘sabotage’ is brought to an end.

On the capacity of the OGFTZ, he noted that Onne is the only port that currently has the capacity to provide all the services like clearing and forwarding of oil and gas cargoes and foreign flagged vessels; drilling equipment services; FPSO integration; support vessels and working boats; tubular stocking and machine shop; pipe coating and threading services.

Other services, according to him, include cement and drilling fluid services; wellhead and subsea equipment; environmental services; dry dock and ship building; machinery and catering service and among others.

Reacting to this, Ahmed Sanni Yerimah, chairman of the committee, who described the investment in Onne port as an economic boost that creates jobs and revenue to both Nigerians and the government, also assured that the committee would assess all the issues raised, to ensure that government is not short-changed.