The Nigeria economy is presently losing about $25 billion yearly to illegal activities on the waterways, Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, has said.
According to him, Nigeria loses as much as $7 billion annually to illegal bunkering alone, while activities such as illegal fishing and smuggling and others generate about $25 billion lost annually.
Speaking at the colloquium held in his honour by maritime stakeholders under the aegis of ‘Team Maritime Nigeria,’ Amaechi said global container liner such as Maersk Line spends as much as $18 million on securing their vessels coming to Nigerian ports.
Amaechi disclosed that it has become worrisome that to import goods to Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar Ports, Nigerian shippers are forced to pay War Risk Premium on the imports to shipping companies.
“The illegal economy in our waters is about $25 billion and a lot of ‘free money’ is going into the pockets of some powerful Nigerians at the expense of the country. As a Governor, Americans under President Obama told me that Nigerian bunkers are the 7th largest producers of oil in Africa. Tha is illegal bunkering,” he explained.
He added that “When one computes all these economic losses on our waters, it will fall within $20 and $25 billion, which if invested in developmental projects, Nigerian economy will change for the better.”
The former minister, who attributed the recent signing of the $195 million maritime security contract between the federal government and HSLi Global, an Israeli firm, to huge economic losses on Nigeria’s water, said it is important to ensure that Nigerian maritime domain are protected 24/7.
HSLi Global, he said, has started training Nigerian security operators that would mount the waters.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
