Nigeria cannot afford not to have vessels move in and out of the country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu told ship owners on Tuesday.
The ship owners have threatened to withdraw their vessels from the country’s sea ports over what they described as excessive back charges, a multimillion-dollar tax bills.
The Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Zacchaeus Adedeji, told journalists, after an interactive session with shipping stakeholders at the State House, that agreement reached to avert vessel withdrawal so as not to disrupt the flow of products.
Adedeji, who allayed fears within the oil and gas sector, assued the stakeholders of President Tinubu’s commitment to resolved the issues for a sustainable operation by the ship owners in Nigeria.
The presidential aide assured the stakeholders that a technical committee has been set up to resolve the issues in contention.
He noted that no vessel would be arrested or detained as the committee worked to reconcile the back taxes.