16th February, 2023
The Federal Executive Council has approved the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECT) to aid in the elimination of oil theft in the country.
Mu’azu Sambo, the Minister of Transportation, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sambo emphasised that the tracking system, which inherently ensures the elimination of loopholes in border operations and boosts the Federal Government’s revenue in the form of duties, port charges, and levies, is expected to generate up to N235 million for the Federal Government.
“It is expected that this scheme will generate revenues to the Nigerian government ranging from about $90 million per annum to a peak of about $235 million per annum,” he said.
According to him, 26 African countries have already begun to implement the tracking scheme, which will address port declarations, secure imports and exports, and increase transparency in cargo invoicing and declarations.
He stated that the scheme’s implementation will reduce the challenge of under-declaration, concealment, and incorrect cargo classification, which are major causes of revenue leakage, insecurity, and safety issues at the country’s borders.
These investments, he said, will be made by private sector companies.
He went on to say that revenues from the small margin of charges would be split 60/40 between the government and the consortium of companies.
“The implementation of the scheme will abet the problems of under declaration, concealment and wrong classification of cargo, which are the primary causes of revenue leakages, insecurity and general security issues at the borders.
“The deployment and implementation of this state-of-the-art ECT scheme will ensure the elimination of loopholes on border operations and boost the revenue of the Nigerian government in form of duties, Port charges and levies,” the minister stated.