The Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN) has protested the continued multiple taxation from both the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for the importation of base oil into the country.
A statement signed by the executive secretary of LUPAN, Emeka Obidike, which was made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend yesterday frowned that its members were being tasked with the payment of dues by NAFDAC, despite being shown a genuine DPR license. Obidike alleged that NAFDAC had in most occasions confiscated their consignments and also gone ahead to detain the consignments of importers, insisting on beingpresented with NAFDAC licenses and proof of the dues being paid. The statement explained that LUPAN members are duly licensed by the DPR to import, store and blend base oil in Nigeria, for their blending requirements.
It further stated that the base oil so imported is a mineral based crude oil derivative and is classified as petroleum oil and oils obtained from bituminous minerals in the national list of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff and Fiscal Policy Measures for 2015, and not obtained from chemical synthesis (synthetic oil).
He continued: “Indigenous blenders are constantly being threatened with the shutting down of their plants and seizure of their consignments and are persistently being faced with the risk of losing their businesses, corrosion of their goodwill and professional integrity, asphyxiating demurrages and transactions and defaulting in the repayment of facilities.
By the Petroleum Act, the Department of Petroleum Resources is the primary regulator of the petroleum sector and its sub sector and that their continued refusal to acknowledge this fact could be construed as a blatant disregard and encroachment on the authority and jurisdiction of the DPR.”
The association therefore appeals to the federal government to call to order the coordinating ministries of both the DPR and NAFDAC with a view to delineating the jurisdiction of both agencies’ with respect to licensing of base oil importation in Nigeria.
Source: NigeriaToday
Source: NigeriaToday
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