Indigenous operators under the aegis of the Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA) have berated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the continued carriage of the nation’s crude on the basis of Free On Board (FOB) while the nation’s imports are carried on the basis of Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF), National Mirror reports.
Director General of NISA, Engr. Oliver Ogbuagu, who spoke in an interview, alleged that it was in a bid for the NNPC to perpetrate fraud that it connives with International Oil Companies (IOCs) to ensure that the nation’s crude oil shipments are lifted on the basis of FOB, which excludes indigenous shipping companies.
He argued that allowing indigenous ship owners to participate in the lifting of crude oil would create a minimum of 5,000 direct jobs annually, which would help reduce the high rate of youth unemployment in the country and the attendant increasing crime wave.
It is estimated that at the 2.7 million barrels of crude oil exported per day at the cost of $2.5 per barrel, Nigeria loses over N2.2 trillion annually in terms of shipments of her crude oil export, which if ploughed back into the economy would create a lot of jobs for the teeming youth population.