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How Nigeria lost over $5.3bn due to govt’s lack of policy direction

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KACHIKWU,BARU FEUD: It was me who approved the NNPC contracts –Osinbajo

For failing to record the actual volume of oil and non-oil export trade between June 2015 and January 2017, Nigeria has lost more than $5.3 billion, the Senate has been told.

The worst case incidents were from June 2015 as there was a lull in government businesses as the newly inaugurated administration had no policy direction for the economy.

Those involved in the act were said to have capitalised on government’s inaction to allow exporting of crude oil and other non-oil products, especially agro-based raw materials, outside Nigeria’s shore without any documentation.

A deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Usman Ndanusa, who represented the ministry disclosed this on Monday before the ongoing joint Senate committees on public hearing on “Need to Investigate Pre Shipment Inspection of Export Activities in Nigeria.”

It was organized by a Joint Committee of the Senate Committees on Finance, Trade and Investment, Gas, Petroleum Upstream, Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Customs, Excise and Tarff.

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The joint commiittees further heard that the non recording of the exports within the said period led the country to lose about $800 billion which has accumulated since 1996 and 2014 from Nigeria’s crude oil export proceeds, not yet repatriated to the country by the Joint Venture Companies (JVCs).

The JVCs were having direct dealings with the NNPC but in terms the Ministry said was in total contravention of Nigeria’s Pre-shipment Inspection Export Act.

He said Article 26 of the Export Policy Guidelines and procedures for crude oil, Gas and non-oil goods was totally ignored by the principal actors in the deal.

According to Senator Abubakar Yusuf, the public hearing was as a result of series of allegations on gross violation of the Pre-shipment Inspection of Export Act by certain institutions of government.

He said the Senate heard that Nigeria’s crude oil and non-oil products were being exported without the required measurement and documentation.

Yusuf stated: “This came to the limelight when a disagreement ensued between the pre-shipment inspection agents at the various export terminals in the country and other officials.

“This consequently led to the replacement of the agents with those who were merely authorised by the federal government without legal and constitutional backing to carry out the pre-shipment work at the terminals,” he said.

Other contributors to the hearing said that heads must roll if sanity is to return to the system.

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