Maritime Debt: AMCON takes over vessels, shipping firms, tank farms, others

N8.5bn petroleum products trapped

By Godwin Oritse

THE Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, has commenced moves to take over some maritime assets which include tank farms and ships owned by indigenous shipping firms.

Vanguard Maritime Report gathered that the decision, apparently followed the failure of owners of the assets to pay up the loans that they took from different commercial banks.

AMCON is the Federal Government’s bad debts bank, established to take over management of bad loans from commercial banks that created them.

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It was gathered that about four tank farms located at the Ibafon petroleum products jetty in Apapa area of Lagos have been put up for sale on the AMCON website while others were put up for lease. Some of the assets that were put up for sale as disclosed on the AMCON website include 76.9million litres of petroleum products at two tank farms at ibafon, Apapa, with the total value put at N8.5billion.

Besides the tank farms, about six ship owners whose names Vanguard Maritime Reports could not ascertain at the time of this report, are currently on the debtor list of AMCON.

The Public Relations Officer of AMCON, Mr. Jude Nwauzor, confirmed that the agency has taken over several marine assets, but said he could not comment on some of the assets seized because many of the cases are in court.

He, however, promised to get back to our correspondent as soon as AMCON receives directives to do so. “I may not be able to give you the list of assets seized so far in the maritime industry, because many of the owners have taken us to court and the case is in court. So commenting now or releasing names may lead to sub judicial trial kind of, but as soon as we have the go ahead, I will inform you and give you full list of some of these assets”, he said.

Confirming the indebtedness to our correspondent, a top executive member of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, said the association was already collating the list of its debtor-members, even as he blamed government policies for the woes bedeviling ship owners in the country.

He said: “These issues are common knowledge; we are still collating how many companies are involved, but you need to ask yourself who controls the policy and who makes the business work. What makes the businesses fail; it’s the policy of government. This matter is in court, so it’s really not something that we begin to discuss on the pages of newspapers.

“There is room for dialogue with government and that is why we are an association, so we are open for dialogue and discussions. If we are owing, it doesn’t mean we don’t know what we are doing, every economy thrives on credit, we will pay; but let them dialogue with us; we are open for discussion”, he stated.

Speaking also, the President of Nigeria Indigenous Ship Owners Association, NISA, Mr. Aminu Umar, told Vanguard Maritime Reports that there is need for government intervention for ship owners to get out of the debt.

According to him, ship owners have already written to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, as to how the ship owners and the entire maritime industry can benefit from the N2.3 trillion stimulus package announced by the Federal Government. He added that no member of his association has come up to say he or she is having a bad debt with AMCON.

Reacting to the development, former Director General of the NIMASA, Barrister Temisan Omatseye, told Vanguard Maritime Report that he was aware of the development adding that many of the assets became toxic at a time.

Omatseye who is a maritime lawyer, a ship owner and operator, also said that the bad loans were sold to AMCON and some of them were some of the maritime assets in question.

He said: “AMCON’s action is not in the best interest of Nigeria and the maritime industry. These vessels are supposed to be generating revenue to off-set these debts.”

The former NIMASA boss also blamed the woos of the indigenous ship owners on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which did not give Nigerian ship owners long term contract, adding that these long term contracts are given to foreign ship operators.

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