Thompson Eja, the Chief Executive Officer of Sea Express has disclosed that Marine transporters are at a disadvantage viz-a-viz their road and air counterparts with regard to the application of the nation’s Value Added Tax (VAT) policy as it affects the transportation sector.
Eja whose firm plies the Calabar to Oron as well as the Calabar to Limbe (Cameroon) channel disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Calabar.
He explained that while road and air transportation in the country enjoys VAT waivers, water transporters do not enjoy such privilege and called for a review of the policy.
“Road transportation and air travel have VAT waivers because they are dealing with people, you don’t make money from people but from services and maritime transportation does not have a VAT waiver and it’s a most ridiculous policy.
“It’s a part of the economy we need to develop and encourage because we cannot afford to build roads anymore.
“We have so many trucks on our road and we need to minimize road damage caused by heavy duty trucks and the way to do it is rail and water transportation.
“The easiest way to get off the ground is water transportation and because of the VAT policy we are at a competitive disadvantage to the road and airline industry,” he said.
He emphasized that as Nigeria looks to grow the blue economy it needs to look at the implications of some of these decisions which from a tax perspective is a burning issue in the sector.
On services offered by his firm, he disclosed that the company which started operations three years ago in January 2022 has operated without a single incident and transformed the channel between Cross River and Akwa Ibom state in terms of travel.
He said because of its services, the governments of both states have been able to reevaluate the impact of the blue economy of the states.
Eja also expressed strong support for the efforts to develop the blue economy in the region particularly the upcoming deep sea port project in Cross River and the Marine Ferry terminal in Oron, Akwa Ibom state.
