Port News – Page 15 – Shipping World News Magazine

Oct172017 by Asu BeksNo Comments

More trouble for Intels as FIRS accuses company of tax default

One week after the Integrated Logistics Services (Intels) made the headlines over the termination of its pilotage agreement with the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), the company is in the news again. This time around, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has accused the organisation co-founded by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Gabriele Volpi, an Italian national, of not paying taxes. On Monday, FIRS officials pasted a non-compliance sticker on the headquarters of the company in Onne, Rivers state. The action led to reports that the company had been sealed but an official of the tax agency told TheCable that such stickers are pasted on companies which have not been complying with tax obligations. “FIRS did not carry out any enforcement on Intels. Our team only paste...

Oct172017 by Asu BeksNo Comments

Nigeria, Ghana sign MOU on piracy and terrorism

Business, Politics, Port News

THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly combat the menace of piracy and terrorism in the West African waterways. Addressing newsmen in Lagos after the signing ceremony, the Director General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, explained that the MOU with Ghana is based on five cardinal focus to further strengthen ties between both countries in the West African sub-region. According to Peterside, “The MOU between NIMASA and the GMA will focus on the following areas: Knowledge transfer and sharing; Capacity building initiative; Cabotage enforcement joint study initiative; Comparative research initiative; and Joint efforts to combat piracy and terrorism. “These are t...

Oct172017 by Asu BeksNo Comments

INTELS can’t re-write our laws – Hadiza Usman

Politics, Port News

The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman yesterday in Lagos declared that it took some 15 gruesome months of negotiation to make the management of INTELS Nigeria Ltd see reason why it would be impossible for the Federal Government to issue them a waiver on the TSA policy . Hadiza Usman who spoke at an interactive session with maritime journalists in Lagos said the NPA laid all its cards on the table making quite a lot of concessions to the Logistics Company. "We explained to them that failure to remit the pilotage dues to the TSA account was in total breach of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But they insisted on an upfront deduction of their 28 per cent service charges and other charges before remitting the balance to the TSA account." Ac...

Oct152017 by Asu BeksNo Comments

El-Rufai Behind Termination of Atiku’s Intel Contract With NPA – Sugar

Business, Misc, Politics, Port News

A political associate of Atiku, Alhaji Muhammadu Abdullahi Sugar, has alleged that Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State is using the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to fight former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. Reacting to the news of the termination of Atiku’s Intels Nigeria Limited’s Boats Pilotage Monitoring and Supervision agreement entered with NPA, Sugar said the action was the “handiwork” of El-Rufai. He said the Kaduna governor used the NPA boss, Hadiza Bala Usman, to get at Atiku. There was no immediate response from El-Rufai’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan. Sugar, in a phone interview with DailyTrust on Sunday said President Muhammadu Buhari might not be aware of the development, saying, “Intels is a legitimate company doing legitimate business based on agreement with...