Some government organizations in the marine sector solicit dollars from shipowners for transactions carried out in Nigeria, despite warnings from the Central Bank of Nigeria against the dollarization of the nation’s economy.
According to reports, jetty berths and port dues are still paid in dollars to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Ports Authority, despite shipowner requests for some of these fees to be paid in naira.
The shipowners asserted that shipping is a dollar-dominated industry and that the dollar is therefore the preferred currency in separate, exclusive interviews with the media in Lagos.
Mkgeorge Onyung, the president of the Nigerian Shipowners Association, stated that the organization has been pushing for payments to be made in the local currency.
He added that shipping was a dollar-dominated industry, but that they nevertheless occasionally made payments in dollars up until this point.
Shipowner Mr. Tunji Brown acknowledged that some of the payments he makes to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency are still made in dollars in his remarks.
According to him, “Let us put it this way, in the past, all payments were supposed to be in dollars. I knew we advocated that the payments should be in naira considering the exchange rate. But till now the invoices are issued in dollars because shipping is a dollar-denominated business.”
He continued by saying that only the mother vessel transporting the merchandise to Nigeria will make a payment in dollars; all other purchasers will make payments in naira.
Speaking further, he said, “For example, the mother vessel that comes into the country with the product will pay in dollars. But any other smaller vessel that ships within the Nigerian waters will pay in naira. But if you coming to offshore Lome, you are going to pay in dollars because that is regarded as an offshore transaction. The transaction is regarded as a foreign transaction even if it is a Nigerian vessel loaded in Lome. Since it did not load from Nigerian water, the vessel still pays in dollars.”
Adedoyin emphasized the significance of the government reviving the refineries in Nigeria in order to keep this money there.
Osagie Edward, the Assistant Director of Public Relations, did not return calls or messages left for him at the NIMASA offices, therefore an attempt to receive a response from NIMASA was unsuccessful.
While this was going on, a source with the NPA declined to comment, claiming he didn’t have permission to do so.
