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FG to check forex abuse by fuel marketers
FG to check forex abuse by fuel marketers
SOPRUCHI ONWUKA
GOVERNMENT has put
in place a new measure to monitor foreign exchange issued to fuel importers in a
determined effort to discover and punish those involved in foreign exchange
round tripping.
Round tripping is an economic and
financial crime involving diversion of foreign exchange obtained from the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for legitimate business.
Operations controller in charge of Lagos
Inspectorate zone of the Department of Petroleum Resources Mr. Don Ugorji, who
chaired a meeting with the six major petroleum marketers yesterday, in Lagos,
and another parley with depot operators last Monday, said the new measure was
aligned with the reinvention of due process and accountability in government
businesses. DPR is the regulator in the oil and gas industry.
Consequently, he directed the downstream
market operators to furnish DPR with details of transactions for every cargo of
petroleum products imported into the country directly or indirectly.
The detailed information of transactions
which must be filled into an official Local/Imported Products Clearance Form,"
according to Mr. Ugorji, will comprise name of the company bringing in the
products, the address, import permit, cargo vessel, type of product imported and
the quantity imported.
For products brought through third
parties, DPR requires the local importer to disclose the name of the mother
vessel, the source of the product cargo, name of the original importer, quantity
of product, import permit number and destination port.
The form, a copy of which was made
available to Daily Champion, also has provision for products sourced
locally from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which operates
four refineries locally.
Mr. Ugorji told the marketers and depot
operators that the new requirement was part of a collaborative effort between
DPR and the CBN to ensure that multiple applications for foreign exchange were
not honoured for one and the same cargo.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Funso
Kupolokun, had early this year said there was no proportionate relationship
between the volume of products imported into the country and the amount of
foreign exchange released for the purpose by the CBN.
His remarks followed an outcry by the CBN
over the pressure brought on Nigeria�s foreign exchange reserves by the
import-sustained deregulation of the domestic fuel market.
Minister of Finance, Dr (Mr) Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, said recently in Lagos that reactivation of due process in
government�s activities was aimed at plugging leakages inherent in the
corruption prone bureaucracy.
She said due process would at full
implementation, save the government over N100 billion annually, adding that
government would reinstall due process in all its ministries, parastatals and
agencies to ensure that the desired result was achieved.
At yesterday�s meeting, Mr. Ugorji said
DPR had been required by the CBN to provide detailed rewards of importation by
marketers seeking foreign exchange.
He warned marketers to be honest in their
transactions, saying those buying off from mother vessels which importers
obtained foreign exchange from CBN need not pay with dollars.
He said that purchases from such parties
must be made in naira unless the original importer sourced his foreign exchange
offshore.
The DPR boss said whereas government was mindful of the
downstream operators� role in sustaining product supply in the domestic market,
it would not by any consideration condone any kind of economic sabotage.
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