Business
THE Senate has alleged that 282 vessels disappeared from terminals of the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA.
Senator Hope Uzodinma, chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, stated this during a public hearing on smuggling of goods into the country on Monday, July 17.
“We want the Nigerian Port Authority to come and explain what happened to 282 vessels that disappeared from terminals. We have names of the releasing officers. This shows that there is no security at the terminal,” he said.
According to him, if you go by the projected revenue of the service for this year, which is approximately N600 billion, it means that the service will loose about N200 billion in revenue this year alone to smugglers in the country.
Stating that figure of goods smuggled through the sea port is more mind burgling, he added over $15 billion or N4.35 trillion worth of good is smuggled into the country each year through sea port.
“The story is the same in our international Airport. Put together, it means that goods worth over N7 trillion are smuggled into the country each year. The frightening thing here is that the annual turnover in the hand of smugglers is more than our annual budget,” he said.
— Jul 17, 2017 @ 14:00 GMT
Tags: 282 Vessels Disappear from Port - Senate chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs Excise and Tariff Nigeria Ports senate Senate Committee Senator Hope Uzodinma
