The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • PPPRA responsible for fuel scarcity, say Reps

    PPPRA responsible for fuel scarcity, say Reps

    • To investigate N39.6b mdgs funds

    The House of Representatives has blamed the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for contributing to the persistent fuel scarcity in parts of the country by its slow payment of claims to oil marketers.

    The lawmakers accused the agency of being too slow in processing payments to suppliers. It also stated that oil theft has contributed to the scarcity currently spreading round the country.

    Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Dakuku Peterside, said the PPPRA could not absolve itself from the recurring fuel scarcity because the agency has no issues with release of its funds from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

    The Committee, during its preliminary status report on the level of implementation of the 2012 budget of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) in the petroleum downstream sector, met with the agency, Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) over the weekend.

    He said: “The legislative arm of government is putting the interest of Nigerians first before any other interest, whether we are rightly understood or not. We must find a relationship between the fact that funds are released to your MDA and that the Nigerian people are beginning to feel the impact of budgetary provisions.

    “All the fund PPPRA asked for has been released, yet we still have long queues everywhere because marketers are not being paid. It is taking a longer time to verify claims.

    “Our pipelines are permanently under threat by vandals and oil thieves, and it has affected the supply of petroleum products to various depots and by implication, fuel stations.”

    While he decried poor fund releases to PTI which he noted has led to cases of several capital projects being abandoned, “PTI Warri has not performed very well,” he lamented.

    “They are in the neighborhood of 45 per cent in terms of releases and implementation of the 2012 budget. Theirs appear to be very challenging because they have a lot of projects that are getting to be abandoned.

    Meanwhile, the House Committee on Millennium Development Goals, MDG, wou;d this week embark on fact finding mission to states to ascertain the extent to which the 39.6 counterpart funding allocated federal and states governments, in the 2011 budget was spent on poverty alleviation, health, environment control and educational programmes that are pro- poor under the MDG.

    The House Committee Chairman on MDG, Ado Alhassan Doguwa, in Kano State, said those found wanting in the supervision process will be dealt with in accordance with the constitution.

    He explained that N550 million was given to each of the 36 states in the 2011 budget under the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) by the Federal Government and they were expected to provide an equivalent of that amount as counterpart funding for projects jointly pursued by the two tiers of government under the MDGs.

    He maintained that the money which is part of the annual budget of $1 billion development debt relief fund granted to the country in 2003 by the Paris club, is usually given to the state governments because they are close to the people, adding that the same window has been provided in the 2012 annual budget.

    For 2012, Doguwa stated that the House of Representatives, using the Club 360, which denotes each of the 360 elected members of the house, has been allocated N30 million to execute projects that will directly have impact on the poor.”

  • Why in-built partitioning is important while building

    Building a first-time house is always with a lot of enthusiasm. It must, however, be done with a lot of care. People react to where they are coming from, especially if they had a difficult landlord or relationship with fellow tenants. They just start their building construction without actually taking certain things into consideration.

    I know of people who decided to build a six and eight-bedroom house though in actual fact they can’t afford to build more than two or three bedroom flat. This is simply a result of an experience from their last accommodation.

    A childhood friend of mine decided to build his first house and after five years he completed it because he had to save and build and then stop when ever his money couldn’t carry him through. Just after nine months that he completed his house and still basking in the euphoria of being a landlord got this good paying job in Abuja and had to move his family to the capital city.

    But his challenge then was what to do with the house that he so strained himself to build and then realised that he would have listened to wise counsel when he started off by segmenting the house or deliberately building the house in such a way that he could conveniently separate the building into two and at least have a tenant in the other half while he moves his family to Abuja.

    He lamented the stress of the movement and the fact that his house cannot easily be rented out due to the size. He considered where he will put some of the family’s personal effects that cannot be carried to Abuja.

    This is one of the several experiences that first time home owners have while building, they actually do not take time out to think of possible change in their work place or the size of the family.

    Their primary engagement most times is just to build and have their own house to avoid the stress and hassles that goes on with being a tenant.

    The above example is instructive to anybody building currently, always build your house in such a way that you can easily create a divide in between and still have complete flats with all the necessary convenience.

    It’s bad to leave a house fallow for months with it being occupied not talking of years before you know it , the house will become home for reptiles and ants and possibly with mucus on the walls with the value and worth depreciating as the days go by.

    It’s always sad to see houses wasting away and it takes just a lot more to fix it back, because when you decide to fix the house after some few years you will go through the whole process of fixing not only the building but also you will think of working on the plumbing, electrical and other engineering jobs.

    So it’s smart to think fast, though when you start out there was not the least likelihood that you may go on transfer or seek a new job that will take you off your station. It is better to be on the winning side by building for the future.

    Don’t ever think you are too settled in your present station to move, something may make you to move, it doesn’t matter if it’s against your will. After all they say the only constant thing in life is change. Nobody should ever think that life is only about what we wish ourselves but sometimes life throws up a challenge that we must embrace and move on.

    As l write this l feel bad seeing my neighbours house that he spent his life savings to build derelict because though he built the house so large against what he actually needs because he has a medium sized family but most importantly he failed to make provision on how to possibly partition the house into two to earn some kind of income while he is on transfer to Port Harcourt. As we speak his house cannot be rented because of the clusters and there is possibly no way the house can be partitioned for two families.

    The situation is that while he is paying so much in his new station, he can’t possibly raise money from his house in Lagos to off-set his bills in Port Harcourt. Now he is talking about breaking walls and building a new toilet, bathroom and kitchen to see if he can carve out a-one bedroom apartment so that the house can be busy and also raise income.

  • Firm acquires high-tech data processing equipment

    A indigenous oil and gas services firm, Verity Geosolutions Limited, said it has completed the installation of 240 Central Processing Unit (CPU) of power edge dual core servers, several high-end workstations, high capacity two phase Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) and Cisco-based telecommunication systems at its Lagos office to enhance hydrocarbon production.

    The Group Managing Director of the company, Yomi Adejonwo, in a statement made available to The Nation, said Verity Geosolutions is the first 100 percent Nigerian owned geophysical data processing company to provide its seismic imaging, interpretation, reservoir modeling and characterization, subsurface data management and geomatics services, to its customers in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

    He said the equipment will provide oil and gas companies the opportunity to boost production and reduce their cost of exploration and development. The technology would also boost local development of advanced geophysical solutions in the oil and gas business in the country, he added.

    He said: “With the installation of this equipment, we are moving closer to the realization of our vision to be the leading provider of geophysical services in Nigeria and West Africa as well as meeting the increasing demand for our technologies.

    “Having worked in the oil and gas industry for several years, we saw an area where attention had not been paid and where we had acquired skills as Nigerians having worked with the international oil companies, so we felt we could bring the skills to the Nigeria oil and gas industry.

    “Our emphasis is to move away from being just commercial agents to foreign companies to bringing in our skills and investing in bringing these technologies down to Nigeria and that’s what we have done by acquiring this equipment. By so doing, we had put in place equipment that would be required to technologically advance in our own methods in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.”

    The equipment he added would give adequate provision of timely high-quality services in support of customers’ exploration and production activities.”

    He said the company offers 2D, 3D and 4D seismic acquisition support services as well as integrated geophysical processing and inversion services adding that the company services would allow hydrocarbon exploration and production companies to create value and optimize cost by reducing hydrocarbon exploration risks, improving oil well placements and improving understanding of producing reservoirs.

  • Estate surveyors identify barriers to practice

    Estate surveyors identify barriers to practice

    To instill sanity and discipline in their profession, surveyors and valuers have agreed to adhere strictly to ethics, professionalism and international best practices. They have also advocated sanctions against breach and commendation when necessary, writes OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE

    The increasing number of quacks and impostors in estate surveying practice has created a credibility crisis in the profession.

    To check the menace, senior members of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors& Valuers (NIESV) Lagos branch, under the aegis of Heads of Practice, have stressed the need for members to imbibe ethics, professionalism and responsibility in service delivery to improve their earnings and worth in the eye of the public.

    In a paper, entitled Professionalism, Ethics and Responsibility Essentials of the 21st century, delivered  by Mr Yinka Omotosho, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, United Kingdom, he regretted that the practice seem to differ from what is obtainable in the United Kingdom.

    He noted that unethical behaviour seems to have crept into the profession through big firms, frontiers, pioneers and senior professionals in the name of meeting targets or making more money.

    He said: “We cannot shy away from the fact that unethical behaviour is eating deep into the credibility fabrics and continuity of our vocation. Our profession is on the brink of collapse if nothing is done to arrest the situation.”

    He warned that estate surveying may be on the brink of collapse if nothing was done to arrest the situation. Omotosho noted that in the United Kingdom, a surveying firm carryies out its work with skill, care, diligence and proper regard for technical standards expected of it.

    “It should also assist employees in their learning, operate a complaints handling procedure, and preserve the security of clients’ money entrusted to its care while managing transactions and using an accounting system appropriate to the business, amongst others,” he said.

    However, he said the same could not be said of the practice in Nigeria where clients lose their cash in transaction, pay more than the value of a property and the withholding of their document by surveyors.

    He advocated tougher sanctions for defaulting members and firms. He also canvassed the inclusion  of professional ethics and practice in universities and polytechnics curricula.

    In his response, the president, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers, Mr Emeka Eleh, agreed with some of the observed abuses. He, however, said they had repositioned the practice to try cases of abuse within six months by the Professional Practice Committee. Mr Eleh noted that sanction grows “every society and we cannot shy away from wielding the big stick on erring members.”

    Chairman of the event, Mr Olalekan Dosunmu identified personal interest, political influence as the bane of the practice in the country and called for a change.

    Chairman, NIESV, Lagos branch, Mr. Sola Fatoki said the idea of the conference is to position the practice for a better practice in view of some formidable challenges facing the profession in the country. The challenges he enumerated, include infiltration by quacks and non patronage by government among others.

    Chief Kola Akomolede also decried the lack of sanction of erring firms and poor skills of some members. He urged the institution to step the disciplinary arm of the practice to put members in check to adhere to the ethics of the profession.

  • Agency stopped from collecting ports fee as Customs kicks

    Agency stopped from collecting ports fee as Customs kicks

    The Federal Government has barred the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) from collecting transaction fees at the ports.

    The order followed a protest letter by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullah Inde, to the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar.

    The government gave CRFFN the green-light to collect the fees about two months ago.

    In the September 25 letter, signed by T. A. Musa, on Inde’s behalf, the Customs chief said: “The service is of the opinion that the charges will no doubt cause delays in the clearance of goods at the port, thereby, leading to port congestion. Its implementation will also increase the cost of doing business with its attendant implication on the cost of goods and services.”

    The Nation learnt that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) also sent a similar letter to the minister.

    Confirming the suspension of the approval, CRFFN accused the Customs of seeking to continue to benefit from what it called freight forwarders’ ignorance.

    Chairman of its Governing Council Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju, accused Customs of sponsoring the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) to kick against the collection of the fees which the CRFFN intended to use to train and professionalise freight forwarders.

    He said: “I was so shocked at the management of the Nigeria Customs which was the first organisation we visited when we started and asked for their collaboration on training. I believe the Nigeria Customs does not want us to grow, they still want to benefit from our ignorance which we want to stop, we want to do freight forwarding as it is being done in the whole world”.

    According to him, the Customs has been issuing licences to clearing agents over the years, but it has not been making any effort to train them.

    “This is why they call most of our people touts, but we don’t want to be touts anymore, we want to be of international best practices because 70 per cent of our jobs have been taken over by foreigners,” Olanrewaju said.

    But ANLCA president Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, denied the allegation that the association is being used by Customs to scuttle the CRFFN deal.

    Shittu said members of the CRFFN Governing Council are occupying offices illegally, adding that their tenure expired on August 14.

    According to Shittu, members of the Governing Council had allegedly extended their tenure for another six months. He said any decision taken by the Governing Council after the said expiration of their tenure is null and void.

    He said: “It is statutory in the Act which established the Council that all elected members have a four year tenure. For this reason the tenure of the elected members of the Council has since expired on August 14, 2012. We are also aware that the Registrar, Mr Mike Jukwe has informed the Minister of Transport in writing in that regard. It is also a fact that the Council members have extended their tenure without the support of members of the Freight Forwarders Consultative Council Forum and the general congress of the registered members. Let us at this time make it clear that our Council administration is in breach by the activities of our Council members.”

    He alleged that CRFFN accredited the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), so that they can vote for it on critical issues.

    The accreditation of AREFFN, NCMDLCA and NAFFAC, he said was illegal since the meeting where they were accredited was held after the expiration of the tenure of the Governing Council.

    But a member of the CRFFN Governing Board and National President of the Institute of Freight Forwarding of Nigeria (IFFN), Dr. Zeb Ikokide, said the tenure of the members of the Governing Council has not expired.

    Ikokide said the council members’ tenure would expire next month.

  • Group steers oil industry enlightenment campaign

    The Campaign for Growth in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry (CGNOGI), a non-governmental organisation has launched a nationwide public enlightenment crusade aimed at providing public education and promote informed discourse on issues affecting the oil and gas industry.

    The group just published its maiden edition of the public enlightenment campaign and said the initiative became imperative in view of the need to ensure that all stakeholders have all the facts and can meaningfully contribute to public debate on issues. The NGO argued that for too long a small group of individuals and corporate bodies have consistently monopolized the discussion of issues for selfish interests, arguing that in this age of information explosion, there is need for citizens to be adequately informed.

    Explaining the rationale for the campaign, the group said the oil and gas sector is strategic to the aggregate economy; pointing out that anything that happens in the industry would easily have multiplier effect on other sectors.

    In view of this, the Executive Secretary of the group, Mallam Abubakar Kalto noted that rather than expedite the reform required moving the industry forward, the current debate over the provisions of the draft PIB, which is before the National Assembly is aggravating the challenges in the sector.

    According to him, the PIB is very important as it aims to overhaul the industry that has not been blessed with such legislation for several years. Contrary to the view of many operators that the PIB would scuttle their operations if allowed to pass into law, Kalto explained that the overhaul will touch on indigenous and foreign operators in the sector.

    The CGNOGI boss stated that the goal of the public enlightenment series is to put the record straight by educating the operators and investors alike about the critical issues that are causing what he called undue delay in the passage of the bill into law by the National Assembly.

    He said Nigeria has an estimated 37.1 billion barrels of oil in reserves and produces an average of over two million barrels per day in compliance with the allocated production quota from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) while the gas reserves are in excess of 165 trillion cubic feet and like its oil, Nigeria’s gas is rich in liquids and low in sulphur.

    Kalto said the legal framework that has guided the industry to date is the Petroleum Act, which was enacted in 1969. The Act, he stated, vests the entire ownership and control of all petroleum in, under or upon any lands within the territory of Nigeria in the state. The legal framework, he noted, gives the power to grant the minister the exploration, prospecting and production rights. Aside the Petroleum Act, CGNOGI identified the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act No. 9, as another laws that govern the industry.

    Kalto said the modern legislation that is expected to bridge the gap is the draft 2012 PIB that is intended to spell out a new legal framework that would govern the operations and activities of the oil and gas industry.

     

  • Lagos market to cost N1.5b

    The Lagos State government plans to rebuild the Sandgrouse Market at N1.5 billion.

    The market will be upgraded into a mix-use ultra-modern affair through a two-year Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement with DHB Construction Limited.

    The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Alabo Bakare, said the project is very vital to the economy of Lagos. “We are embarking on the development of the Sandgrouse Market to key into the desire of Governor Babatunde Fashola to make Lagos a model city and the mega city that it is presently. To have such an edifice will complement the effort of the state government,” he said.

    The market would be developed into an ultra-modern market and, first of its kind in Lagos State, said Bakare, at the weekend.

    The development arrangement, he said is “between D.H.B Construction, Lagos Island Local Government and the Lagos State government, which has a build-operate and transfer (BoT) arrangement for a period of 25 years after which the project will revert to the government.”

    He explained the role of the local council in the PPP arrangement, saying all markets in the state are administered by the local government. “Sandgrouse Market is situated in the Lagos Island Local Government and that is why the local government is the one signing it off on behalf of the state government.”

    Bakare said the existing tenants in the market have no need to fear displacement.

    “Like what we have done in our previous assignment at Gbaja Mall is that they will be right of first choice and we are not displacing anybody. We are going to make adequate arrangement to have a place where we will put them temporarily until we finish construction.”

    He said the market would be developed in phases and that it would be completed in 18 months. “When we finish the phase which the present occupants belong to, we will restore them to their former positions. We will try as much as possible to make mortgage available to them as well as ease their purchasing power.”

    The developer said the spaces in the new market are on sale at N500,000 per square metres and the sizes range from five square metres to 10 metres in addition to open spaces for outright purchase for 25 years and renewable.

    He said: “The new Sandgrouse Market would be very secure, a police station would be built there as part of his company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    The government has done so well by awarding contract for the reconstruction of the road from Holly- end to Gbagbose end and this will complement our construction effort.”

    The market, he also revealed will be  segmented  for every line of business from the corporate to the everyday trader, especially for the lawyers  because of the proximity of the market to the High Court.

    The market would be built on a total land area of 14,236.974 square metres, Bakere disclosed that the  and the  market will be built on an 5,8224square metres.

    On electricity he promised that the place will be lighted according to him “We will take advantage of the Independent Power Project on Marina to serve the market since it is located within its vicinity.”

  • Women engineers mainstream gender in energy conservation

    Women engineers mainstream gender in energy conservation

    Women engineers have advocated the need to conserve energy and adhere to a sustainable housing policy to grow the economy.

    At the fifth National Conference and 30th anniversary of the association held in Lagos last week, President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers (APWEN), Mrs Olayinka Abdul, said the association has come far from six members 30 years ago to over 1,500 members.

    Mrs Abdul said the conference centred on how women can live in sustainable houses and also conserve energy.

    She criticised people who leave their bulbs on till late in the afternoons, wasting electricity which is not in the right quantum. Mrs Abdul said APWEN was canvassing proper conservation of energy resources as change agents.

    Speaking on the theme Energy conservation and sustainable housing in a growing economy, she called on the government to encourage research on the material usage that will bring down the cost of housing.

    The founding president of the association, Mrs Olu Maduka, praised how far the association has gone from what it used be 30 years when she put out the first advertisement in the newspaper asking women engineers to come together and encourage one another.

    Mrs Maduka said it was difficult to work as a woman engineer in those days but noted the story is different today as many women engineers are in top positions across the country.

    In her contribution, the chairman, conference planning committee, Mrs Patricia Opene-Odili also stressed on the need for people to manage their electricity supply sustainably and decried wasting by those who leave their lights on even when not in use. She said the conference would also explore ways to encourage government to build affordable housing for the majority of the people.

    Speaking on The role of women engineers in our society’  Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ganiyu Abiodun Johnson called for an improvement in opportunities available to women engineers within the nation.

    He stated that though there had been a number of women engineers who had held top level position in engineering jobs, there is a general lack of access due to the perception that the engineering profession is gender sensitive.

    Johnson disclosed that women generally are under-represented in education especially in science and technology and therefore calls for urgent attention. He attributed this to the fact that women are not well represented in the field of science and technology as a result of lack of interest in the fields due to calculations involved. However, he said that present generation has changed the perception by aggressively taking up challenges in new science and technology.

    He disclosed that less than 30 per cent of career women get to the peak due to gender discrimination. He, therefore, urged the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) to rise up with one voice against discrimination with the support of legislation.

    Saying that lack of access is not peculiar to Nigerian women engineers, Johnson noted that factors such as societal gender assumptions, objective and organisation of education and practice of science and technology accounts for the situation.

    He challenged APWEN to evolve strategies that will improve access for women engineers and also actions that will encourage women engineers in training to effectively challenge them for their rightful place in their profession.

    Johnson also suggested role modeling as a possible option for APWEN.  He asserted, “Women engineers are a wonderful untapped resource, and by bringing more visibility to them.  It will inspire young girls to become engineers.”

    The Special Adviser further listed the areas of focus for APWEN’s action to include teachers’ attitude to girls in science, a new guidance and counseling role biased towards girls and science education, public enlightenment and a legislation preventing discrimination in hiring practices.

  • How to achieve cheaper oil, gas production

    How to achieve cheaper oil, gas production

    FOR most oil producing companies operating marginal fields, oil prospecting is a big issue owing to the cost involved.

    But with a new technology that emphasizes cost reduction in oil prospecting, an expert says the viability and profitability of exploration activities by these companies can now be enhanced.

    The Managing Director, WellManned, Uwem Udoh disclosed this at the September edition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists’ (NAPE) monthly technical meeting in Lagos.

    He said the technology known as Stress Field Detector (SFD) provides a faster, cheaper indication of prospects to help accelerate reserves addition and estimates especially for Nigerian Independents and marginal field operators.

    He hinted that these reserves estimates are needed to provide data for financing decisions to help move a lot of oil blocks to quicker development. This, he said, would have a significant effect on the production level as well as revenue accruable from the oil.

    “We must understand that the major objective of the SFD technology is to reduce the cost of exploration, which is currently very high especially for the marginal field operators. Besides, the technology also helps to reduce the time for development of oil blocks. With a reduced development time, it would be possible to have increased reserves. And with increased reserves, we would automatically have our production level, OPEC quota and revenues from oil also increased,” Udoh said.

    Describing oil and gas prospecting as an activity that has evolved over the years, Udoh said the use of different computer technologies for the exercise has meant that oil prospecting companies are able to gain deeper insight into the wave field phenomena of the earth though with huge cost implications.

    He said: “Over the years, oil and gas prospecting has adopted a geophysical method called exploration seismology for determining geologic structure by means of induced elastic waves.

    By studying body waves such as compression and shear waves propagating through the earth’s interior, the constituent and elastic properties of its solid and liquid core, its solid mantle and the thin crust are thereby defined.

    “But in recent times, available computer technology has allowed the resolution of some of the theoretical complexities of elastic wave propagation so that deeper insight into the wave field can be obtained. Also, the availability of a large number of channels in the recording instrument has facilitated three- dimensional and three- component acquisitions. In fact, there are now powerful super computers to allow for manipulation of larger data sets as well as their display and interpretation into single data unit through the use of advanced computer visualization techniques.”

    He noted that with this requirement, any oil prospecting organization would have to contend with the issue of the huge cost of exploration if it has to bring its field on stream.

    He said that the inability to fund exploration activity by several marginal field operators is the major reason why their productivity and the country’s proven reserves figures have been badly affected.

    On recent report by Reuters that the country may in few years run out of oil, Udoh dismissed such claim noting that the country still has fields that have not been prospected let alone exploited.

    He said: “I don’t think there is any logic in the assertion that our wells may soon run dry. As a matter of fact, there are wells that have not been tapped into at all. We have the Chad and Anambra basins that we have not explored and exploited at all. How can anybody now say we may run out of oil when there are wells yet untapped. I don’t believe so.

  • NIMASA introduces new levy

    NIMASA introduces new levy

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has introduced a new Marine Environment (Sea Protection) Levy for various types of vessels coming to the nation’s seaports.

    Sources at the agency told The Nation that a letter to that effect was signed in June, this year by its Director-General, Patrick Akpobolokemi.

    The letter, investigation revealed, imposed the following levies: $ 1.25 per gross tonnage on vessels of 100-1000 gross tonnage, $ 1.00 per gross tonnage for ships of 1,001-10,000 gross tonnage, $ 0.75 per gross tonnage for ships of 10,001- 100,000 gross tonnage, and $ 0.50 per tonnage for vessels of 100,001 gross tonnage and above.

    For Nigerian-registered ships, the rate of the levy is N500 per gross tonnage for ships of 100- 1000 gross tonnage, N350 per gross tonnage for vessels of 1,001- 10,000 gross tonnage, N300 per gross tonnage for vessels of 10,001- 100,000 gross tonnage and N250 per gross tonnage for ships from 100,00 I gross tonnage and above.

    The regulation, according to source, said the “rate of levy payable by an offshore installation and oil pipeline shall be (a) in ‘the case of an offshore oil installation that is producing. Processing, storing, or transferring oil, including buoys used for the loading and/or receiving of oil, NI5million, per annum:

    In the case of an offshore oil installation used or constructed for the purposes of exploring for oil, N10million for each oil well drilled by that installation, while in the case of an oil pipeline, N I, 500 per cubic metre of pipeline volume from the high water mark to the termination point offshore,” would be charged.

    A senior official of the agency, who craved anonymity, also said the new levy affects all commercially-operating vessels of l00 gross tonnage and above in Nigerians waters and on oil installations and pipelines.

    The levy, the official said, is charged against ships and is based on the “potential polluter pays” principle.

    The levy, according to him, applies to vessels which are more than 24 metres in length and have onboard more than 10 tonnes of oil in bulk as fuel or cargo.