‘Dangote Refinery Won’t Breach Cabotage Act’

Dangote Port Operations has assured the Nigerian Marítime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that the refinery will not be in a breach of the Cabotage act.

This assurance was given by the managing director, Dangote Port Operations, Akin Omole, during a visit to the director general of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, in Lagos.

While speaking, Omole said, “We talked about business being done in a way that there is no obstruction, no delay. In shipping, a day’s delay is a huge cost, we have an average of over $50,000 demurrage on a ship per day, so we want to be sure that these kinds of delays are not experienced.

“All bottlenecks, hindrances that will cause the delay will be addressed jointly and collaboratively with our team and NIMASA team,” he stated.

Responding, the DG of NIMASA, Dr Jamoh, said the Agency is committed to ensuring that the business of the Dangote Ports and refinery are not hindered by the implementation of the regulatory instrument under the provisions of the Cabotage law.

According to the DG, the Agency will work with Dangote Ports to also ensure the Group does not breach any regulation of the Federal Government as regards Wet Cargo affreightment.

However, both parties agreed to set up a working committee to address the operational concerns at the refinery within 14 days.

“I suggested a joint committee with membership from NIMASA and Dangote to sit down and look at issues objectively. Our priority is to ensure regulatory implementation does not impede the operations of Dangote Ports and by extension, Dangote Refinery.

Though the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery would lead to a drop in NIMASA revenue, because ships importing petroleum products would reduce drastically thus reducing the 3% freight levy collected by the Agency. However, Nigerian economic growth and long term benefit to the Nigerian masses is far better than immediate revenue for NIMASA,” he said.