NACCIMA Seeks to Use Certificate of Origin to check Oil Theft

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has advised the federal government to use Certificate of Origin (CoO) to fight the sale of stolen Nigerian crude oil in the international market.

The National President of NACCIMA, John Udeagbala, gave the advice during a quarterly press briefing where he asserted that the issuance of the CoO is the ultimate step Nigeria must take to address the theft of its crude oil in order to increase its public revenues.

He said: “If the oil export in Nigeria should be done in a way it is meant to be done there must be certification with the issuing of Certificate of Origin, which means that this oil is actually Nigerian oil. And no buyer can buy crude oil without this certificate.”

Udeagbala claimed that the right to issue the CoO should be domiciled with the NACCIMA, since it is the chambers of commerce all over the world that certifies export products.

“We are trying now to engage the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to understand who issues this CoO to them. This is one step that we must follow to increase our revenues. So that when the oil pipeline is broken, those stealing the oil cannot go to anywhere to sell it. I want special attention to be paid to this,” he said.

He stated that government must take decisive action to increase its revenue in the face of rising public debt.

NACCIMA also called for the privatisation of the country’s petrol refineries, insisting that the concept of turn around maintenance of refineries is peculiar to Nigeria and not obtainable in any other country.

Similarly, the Second National Vice President of NACCIMA, Dele K. Oye, collaborated Udeagbala’s claim that turn around maintenance of refineries is nothing but a hoax.