The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has been accused of collecting Temporary Importation Permit (TIP) to the tune of N2million in addition to an unofficial $30, ooo fee for any foreign-flagged vessel seen carrying petroleum products.
The oil marketers who operate under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme have made public the illegal demands from members of the NCS, a figure amounting to a whooping N3 billion annually for the marketers to be granted access to bring in their oil vessels.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the NCS has swiftly refuted this claim stating that: “[the marketers] do not pay a dime as import duties for petrol,” contrary to claims from them. Wale Adeniyi also said the payment of the Temporary Importation Permit as claimed by marketers wasn’t on imported oil products but on for re-exported products.
But the marketers insist the extortion is real, saying the top authorities at the NCS are fully aware.
An oil exporter spoke further under anonymity:
“The scheme involves the extortion of $30,000 from agents by customs officials each time a foreign vessel bearing petroleum products berths at the ports. Averagely, 40 of such vessels arrive the nation’s shores every month, bringing the total amount raked in by the scheme to about N3 billion per annum. These payments are not receipted.”
NCS spokesperson, Wale Adeniyi, has since stated as untrue the claims that the Customs Service involves in any such acts of extortion.
