Pinnacle Time News

The Oyo State 90 hectares of land acquired for the Ibadan Inland Container Deport, has attracted a lone bidder at the close of its pre-qualification exercise, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has disclosed. Above development has begun to generate controversy, raising doubt about the standard operating procedure of the bid process, as well as the viability of the project. However, top on the controversy is the apparent conflicts in the cost of the project, given official double speak on the matter following different financial outlays that have so far been deposed to. Commenting on the bid exercise, Barrister Hassan Bello, Executive Secretary/CEO of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, promoter of the project has explained that even though a sole candidate qualified in the bid exercise, it was not a guarantee that the bidder has won the project bid. He further explained that the bid may be subjected to further evaluation process by the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) b...

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Bank of Industry (BoI) has agreed to work together to raise the tempo of maritime investments and shipping development financing. This pledge by the two organizations was made at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Maritime Finance Fair put together in Lagos by the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) . BoI at a presentation at the fair disclosed it has disbursed over $82m out of a pool of $200m fund set aside by the Nigeria Content Intervention Fund (NCDF) for investment windows in the maritime, oil and gas sector. The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside while lauding BoI financial window for the maritime industry expressed the desire to partner the bank for an efficient synergy in availing the industry needed financial windows and intermediation, especially with regards to Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF), which he said is still receiving legislative amendments at the Nation...

Amid quiet murmuring from some segments of the maritime and shipping development  sector, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has facilitated investment financing to the tune USDollar82 million. Management of the bank which dropped the hint yesterday in Lagos said the loan facilities were given to some indigenous investors in the country for the purchase of ships, ship repairs and allied investments, from the $200m fund provided by the Nigeria Content Intervention Fund. Managing Director of BoI , Kayode Pitan, who was speaking at the maiden edition of Nigeria Maritime Finance Fair held Lagos added that the financial window have created 3,117 jobs across the country. Pitan who was represented by a principal manager in its Oil and Gas Group, Mr. Victor Agina, urged the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to partner with it in the management and disbursement of its Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF). Pitan explained that stakeholders with 51percent indigenous e...

The Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs Service generated a total of N2,627,149,100 in revenue between March and April 2019. Customs Area Controller of the commander, Comptroller Mohammed Uba told Pinnacle time news that intensified operations of the enforcement unit has reduced smuggling to the barest minimum, while assuring of efforts to sustain the tempo. As a result 18 seizures which include 14 trailers of foreign rice and 13 vehicles with a total Duty Paid Value  of N166,093,114.21, making a cumulative of N2,793,242,214.21. The area customs boss gave the breakdown of the other seizures to include 31 Jerrycans of vegetable oil, 35 bags of sugar, 138litres of petrol, 336 cartons of alcoholic drinks and 71 cartons of food seasoning. The others are 2,268 parcels of Cannabis Sativa, 175 bales of textiles, 15 sacks of used clothing, 410 sacks of school bags, 2000 cartons of expired biscuits including a truck load of 493 packs of baby diapers. Uba also  said that the comma...

Last week we looked at the recent policy somersault in the defunct Headquarters Strike Force of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and identified factors that led to the tumbling, fumbling and wobbling of the failed policy erroneously conceived to strengthen the strike force. While it is no longer news that the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retired) ordered the dismantling of the strike force, the circumstances leading to this decision and the composition of the reconstituted but decentralized strike force, beg to draw attention must to the apparent narrow prism upon which national interests and responsibilities are distributed along ethnic consideration. There are those who believe that this resurgence to ethnic leaning has become manifest characteristics in the President Muhammadu Buhari government, sadly supported by his cronies and close aides including unhappily, Col. Ali, who appears to be more professional, liberal and largely more patriotic in respect of pl...

The spate of clashes between officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service and ‘indigenes’ of border communities at the Seme-Badagry, Idiroko-Owode axis in Lagos and Ogun state has in recent past become most volatile, one shudders to think what this may lead into, if not tackled timely, carefully and purposefully. Although there has been occasional rumour of such conflicts in the North Western states of katsina and Jigawa, the Idiroko-Seme axis economic conflict represents the official heartbeat of customs operations; and therefore an official scale of reference, rightly or wrongly. Whereas clashes between customs and citizenry is a universal phenomenon,  what appears a bit peculiar in our situation is the worrisome trend of increasing mob attacks on customs operatives, which are occasionally lethal and often dispensed with a sense of righteous indignation. This however clearly stamp out those involved as either pitiably ignorant, or else portray the attackers as those under th...

Perhaps, it is no longer news that the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, as at the end of May 2019 have as yet received any part of its budget allocation for the current year. Rector of the Academy, Commodore Duja Effedua (retired) who reportedly disclosed this during a parliamentary business session with the Senate Committee of Marine Transport, was believed to have lamented the undue negative impact the development was having on the institution. He explained to the committee members that its funding is drawn from five percent of the total annual earnings of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and not only expressed dissatisfaction at the way and manner NIMASA has been paying the money piece meal, but also reportedly worried about the ‘non accountable’ method the disbursement has so far taken. An agitated Effedua told the committee members that despite all appearances, the Academy is crawling under the weight of financial burden, noting that the o...

Operator of the Onne Oil and Gas Port, Rivers state, West Africa Container Terminal, (WACT), has said it is set to take delivery of two new mobile harbor cranes from Liebherr, as part of an unprecedented $10 million upgrade. The report says the upgrade will bring its operations at par with its peers in Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports, Lagos in terms of equipment and operational efficiency. WACT is considered not just the biggest but also the most efficient container terminal outside Lagos. The Managing Director of WACT, Mr. Aamir Mirza, while speaking during the commissioning of four new specialized terminal trucks and an empty handler in Onne Friday, said the mobile harbor cranes are expected to arrive Nigeria in July this year. He also said that the acquisition of four additional specialized terminal trucks brings to 10 the number of such trucks acquired by WACT so far this year, with four more expected before the end of the year. His words, “You will recall that four trucks arrive...