FG offers to employ 2,000 Intels’ workers over termination of contract

The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, has said that the over 2,000 Nigerians that are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the termination of pilotage service contract with Intels will be absorbed by the new company that will emerge.

Usman gave the assurance yesterday during an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos.

According to Usman, the termination of the contract does not mean that the service will not be provided, saying that whoever that will be providing the service will need the skills of the people.

She said that the government would ensure a level-playing field to the extent that the regulations of government is achieved and the policies of government is adhered to.

“I saw some concerns around the fact that there will be some job losses if Intels services are terminated. This service will be provided. It is not that the collection of pilotage will end. That service will be provided. You will have the skills set. Whoever that will be doing that service will require your skills. He will employ you.

If NPA is doing the service, NPA will employ you. If a private company is doing it the company will employ you. But what is important is whatever skill set that people have if Intels decides to create a redundancy, these people will be absorbed by any entity that takes up that service because that work must be done and must be done by people that have skills and if you have skill working for Intels you will have an opportunity to be employed. So, I just want to reiterate that level-playing field is what we intend to achieve to ensure that regulations of government are adhered to.

We will seek to ensure that every company that operates here abide by the policies of government. And those policies of government, of course, should not be policies that are discouraging or harsh but should be policies that accommodate and ensure people have their monies as and when due which is why I committed to paying them (Intels) within seven working day. And to the extent that we cannot pay them we provide them interest on delayed payment” she said.

Reacting to the NPA’s allegations, the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas logistics giant, INTELS Nigeria Limited said that the present management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) deliberately frustrated attempts to address the issues raised by the introduction of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, in the execution of its pilotage agency agreement.

Intels said the issues arose because the pilotage agency agreement, signed in 2010, did not envisage the TSA, and as such did not factor it in its implementation. The company said it borrowed $1.4 billion (₦428.4 billion) from banks to execute the agreement with the understanding that the debt would be offset from monies realized from the pilotage services paid directly to the banks.

INTELS Spokesman, Bolaji Akinola said that a series of meetings, letters and proposals on how to resolve the TSA imbroglio was rebuffed by the NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman.

“Deliberate stumbling blocks were placed on the path of resolving the issues and this is indicative of a sinister motive,” Akinola said.

Akinola said that on May 5, 2017, INTELS sent a letter to NPA proposing the opening of a jointly signed account between the company and NPA on which the boat service revenues would have been directed, but that this proposal, like many others, was rebuffed.

He also faulted claims by NPA that the contract was terminated based on the advice of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

“At what point are revenues eligible to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund? NPA acting on behalf of the Federal Government entered into a profit sharing agreement with INTELS. Seventy-two per cent of the revenue goes to NPA while 28 per cent is for INTELS.

“The objective interpretation of the Constitution should be that the revenue due to the Federation should be the 72 per cent due to NPA,” he said.

INTELS imagemaker also said that NPA could not fault INTELS in the execution of the contract, “which we handled most diligently”.

According to him, “INTELS faithfully implemented the covenants of the agency agreement and also substantially boosted government revenue.

“We took the pilotage service from a revenue stream of a few thousand dollars per month to a multimillion dollars per month service hence attracting the envy of many.”

The company also said that the persecution it is currently facing is “rather unfortunate” and will certainly not stand the test of time.

The INTELS spokesman said those who criticize the company’s operation are “either ignorant or mischievous” about the company’s monumental achievements and value addition to the Nigerian economy.

He said the present management of NPA is pandering to the antics of the company’s detractors at the expense of government revenue, huge investments and several jobs, contrary to the position of fairness and objectivity that it should have adopted.

“It is clear that there is more to all these than the TSA issue because all our attempts to resolve the TSA imbroglio brick wall. There was no sincere or genuine desire to address the issue. What was evident was a clear case of giving a dog a bad name to justify hanging it,” he added.

Recall that the federal government last month directed the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to terminate the boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement that NPA has with Intels Nigeria Limited, a leading integrated logistics and facilities services provider in the maritime and oil and gas logistics sectors of the country, saying that the contract was void ab initio.

Conveying the decision of the federal government to NPA, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), in a letter dated September 27, 2017 to the Managing Director of the NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, said that the agreement, which has allowed Intels to receive revenue on behalf of NPA for 17 years, violates the Nigerian Constitution, especially in view of the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of government. government.

Based on the directive to terminate the agreement, Intels which was founded over three decades ago by Mr. Gabriele Volpi, an Italian national who also has Nigerian citizenship, stands to lose several millions of dollars in commissions for the monitoring and supervision pilotage services it handles on behalf of NPA on Nigerian coastal waters.

To ensure the safety of ships’ passage within Nigeria’s seaports, the NPA, through Intels as its agent, provides pilotage services to guide ships into and out of the ports.

The rule of thumb in the maritime industry is that pilotage must be compulsory for all ships of 35 metres overall length or greater unless a valid Pilotage Exemption Certificate is held by the ship’s master.

However, Intels has threatened to withdraw its services from Nigeria if the government insists on terminating its contract. That means the over 2,000 Nigerians employed by Intels will lose their jobs.

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