The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, on Tuesday blamed high rate of crime for a N6 billion revenue shortfall recorded by the agency recorded in 2018.
Dakuku spoke in Abuja during 2019 budget defence session of his agency before the Senate Committee on Marine Transport.
The NIMASA boss, who made the submission in response to a question on why NIMASA’s contributions to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2018 reduced by N6 billion, noted that maritime crimes was largely responsible for the reduction.
He explained that since monies remitted into the consolidated account on yearly basis are directly percentages of revenues saved, shortfalls in remittances were as a result of low revenues caused by maritime crime or piracy on high sea.
“Our problem here is more of maritime crime and not piracy, which is committed on high seas but within the sector, Nigeria is largely seen as headquarters of piracy in the world,” he said.
The agency’s remittance into the consolidated revenue fund in 2017 was N22 billion while that of 2018 was N16 billion, resulting in a shortfall of N6 billion.
Dakuku appealed to the committee to facilitate the process of the Senate giving concurrence to the Maritime Security Bill already passed by the House of Representatives.
“We need adequate security on our waterways, the very reason why the anti-piracy law already passed by the House of Representatives is urgently needed,” he said.
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