The withdrawal of pilotage management from Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited (INTELS) has resulted in a revenue loss of $161 million for the Federal Government, according to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
In a statement released on Sunday, the NPA attributed the financial setback to the lack of necessary technology to monitor operations after taking over the service boat management following the expiration of the agreement with INTELS.
The statement highlighted the impact on revenue, revealing a decline from $216 million and $209 million in 2014 and 2015 under INTELS to $130 million and $99 million in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The situation worsened in 2023, with only $55.3 million collected up to June.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently announced the sale of his interests in INTELS.
NPA also disclosed that, as part of efforts to resolve the disagreement with INTELS, the company waived over $193 million in debt, emphasizing that the agreement was reached in the national interest.
In a memo titled ‘Reinstatement of INTELS Nigeria Limited as the authority’s service boat operations monitoring provider in the pilotage district,’ NPA extended the service boat operation agreement with INTELS, assuring increased revenue generation.
The agency expressed dissatisfaction with the unnecessary loss of revenue due to the issue and emphasized that Nigeria would save $326.9 million from the new agreement with INTELS on the contentious pilotage contract.
The breakdown of the agreement includes a $100 million waiver as part of the accrued interest on the indebtedness to Deep Offshore Services Limited under the Phase 4B agreement and an additional waiver of interest accruing on the outstanding debt under the Phase 4B Agreement for two years, estimated at $93 million.