Just as the flying in of the global Chairman of Intels Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gabriele Volpi, to the country is fast tracking ongoing mediation between the company and the federal government though the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) has assured that Intels will comply with the Federal Government’s directive on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, he has brushed aside, speculations that his company is pulling out from investing in Badagry Deep Seaport, Lagos.
He said, “We are committed to cooperating with the government and the NPA in the development of Nigeria’s maritime sector and this includes the Badagry deep seaport.
“The Badagry deep seaport is a massive undertaking, which will cost billions of dollars and will be the biggest in Africa and will turn Nigeria into a regional hub for ships bringing goods to the continent. It will also help to move a lot of shipping activities at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports and help to decongest Apapa; so, we are serious about our investments in Nigeria.”
Trouble had started recently when the NPA on the advice of the Attorney general of the federation, issued a termination of pilotage agreement order to the company for noncompliance to TSA.
Already, analysts have called for amicable resolution of the matter and reinstatement of the agreement to enable the company deepen its growing investment which had been providing thousands of jobs for Nigerians.
Besides, they argued further that such harsh decision will present Nigerian in bad lights to prospective foreign investors at a time Nigeria is scouting for more investors.
In his statement, Volpi, who described Intels as a committed development partner to Nigeria, said he would do everything possible to ensure amicable resolution of the crisis.
According to him, “We intend to comply with the directive of government and transfer all the revenue to the TSA because we are a law-abiding company”.
