…As NPA Breaks Silence, Summons Operators After Six-Year Delay
In a sweeping move to recover outstanding public revenues, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched an investigation into several stevedoring firms operating at Nigeria’s oil and gas terminals over their alleged failure to remit statutory royalties to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for over six years.
The stevedoring companies, which handle cargo operations at offshore and onshore oil facilities, reportedly earn between $1.2 million to $1.5 million monthly. However, insiders say they have failed to remit the required 20–30% of their earnings to the NPA since the contracts began an amount estimated to have now ballooned to over $100 million.
Top-level sources within the NPA mentioned that the agency had been unable to enforce compliance due to the political clout and deep-rooted connections of some of the firms’ promoters, who are allegedly tied to powerful interests close to the corridors of power.
The EFCC’s involvement was triggered by an anonymous petition earlier this year, prompting NPA to spring into action. In a letter dated March 19, 2025, the NPA summoned all stevedoring firms operating in oil and gas facilities to a long-overdue meeting, the first of its kind since the contracts were awarded six years ago.
The letter, referenced HQ/ED/M\&Q/OP/080 and signed by the NPA’s Executive Director of Marine and Operations, Olalekan Badmus, was addressed to the President of the National Association of Stevedoring Operators (NASO). It invited members to a meeting held on April 15, 2025, aimed at addressing the non-compliance and operational irregularities in the sector.
According to the NPA, the agenda included contract verification, royalty status, service provision, equipment supply, and operational challenges. Stevedores were also required to submit monthly operation reports dating back to their contract inception and present copies of their appointment letters and agreements for verification.
“The Authority invites all the appointed stevedores to a maiden monthly operations meeting… to commence preliminary discussions on a harmonised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),” the letter read in part.
Industry observers say this development could mark a turning point in NPA’s efforts to sanitize stevedoring operations in Nigeria’s lucrative oil and gas terminals and may potentially unmask years of entrenched corruption and negligence.