Nigeria Maritime Agency Employs Consultant To Retrieve About $5 Billion From Debtors

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has appointed Snecou Financial Services Company Limited to assist in recovering debt of over five billion US Dollars various companies are owing it.
The contract for the recovery of debts owed the Agency is for a period of two years in the first instance with an option for renewal.
According to a statement by the NIMASA media chief, Lami Tumaka, the approval for the contract was recently granted by the Parastatals Tenders Board (PTB) of the Agency at its 55th session which held in the Agency’s head office in Lagos.
She said that the Agency sought and obtained approval for a “Certificate of No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement in line with the Public Procurement Act (PPA).
According to the contractual agreement already endorsed by both parties, the contract is based on a success rate of 13 percent using a benchmark of $19,753,012.36 and N239,607,155.52 monthly revenue while a maximum cap of 15 percent success rate is payable on any new revenue head discovered  by the consultants within the contract period.
Tumaka explained that Snecou Financial Services Company Limited will be paid 13 percent of only the revenue that is above the threshold of the approved benchmark in the course of the contracting period. Similarly, Messrs Snecou will also be entitled to a maximum of 15 percent of new revenue streams discovered during the period.
This, the spokeswoman said, is in line with the vision of the Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside and in accordance with the Agency’s Medium Term Strategic Growth Plan, part of which is to enhance the Agency’s revenue.
She quoted Peterside as saying: “we have awarded a debt recovery contract which is totally different from what Global West was doing for NIMASA. The contract was not awarded to the Chairman of the APC in Rivers State. It was awarded to Snecou Nigeria Limited and we advertised the contract in several newspapers. So I don’t see what is wrong with awarding a contract to get our money from debtors.”
She said that debts owed NIMASA by various operators in the maritime industry have grown exponentially over the last five years, necessitating an investigation and convocation of a Public Hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration in June this year.
“This contract is expected to recover these debts and channel the funds into developing critical infrastructure as well as knowledgeable manpower for the industry.” [myad]