A pilotage firm, Escravos Ship Pilot Nigeria Limited (ESPNL), has protested sharp practices at the Warri pilotage district of Delta State through a petition written to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
ESPNL, recently contracted by the federal government to conduct pilotage services on ships sailing out of Warri pilotage district, has lamented alleged collusion of operators of oil service boats with officers at the Warri Port to shortchange the NPA to the tune of millions of naira.
ESPNL in a protest letter dated 20th December, 2023, addressed to the managing director, NPA, Koko Bello, urged him to wade into the ugly development of oil service boats/tankers and sanction any port official found to be implicated in the nefarious activities.
Technical director of ESPNL, Captain Charlie Tobi, lamented that a sting operation carried out on operators of oil service boats in the mandate area revealed that majority of them have not been presenting for signing/endorsement the mandatory documents, particularly “the Master Declaration Sheer.”
He disclosed that “investigations by ESPNL revealed that majority of the recalcitrant oil service boat operators have been colluding with unnamed NPA top officials who, in effect, have been letting them off the hook on issuing them what is known in the local parlance as ‘off record’, after receiving unspecified gratifications, thus diverting revenue meant for the federal government to private pockets.
“This is one of the reasons why the Warri Port is poor. The bad eggs within the NPA have been sabotaging the good efforts of the federal government”.
Findings by LEADERSHIP confirmed that while Intels is presently doing the monitoring, ESPNL is doing pilotage of oil service boats.
Consequently, operators of all oil service boats within the operational area are mandated to sign/endorse their “Master Declaration Sheet” showing the particulars of the ship, the owners, agents, cargo type as well as the gross registered tonnage, among others, in the course of any voyage undertaken for NPA’s record and for the safety of the vessel.
