In a dramatic turn from his earlier consistently maintained position, the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has agreed that the Cabotage Vessel Financing Funds(CVFF) be disbursed to the eligible indigenous ship owners.
Amaechi, who on Tuesday in Abuja yielded to the persistent pressures from the ship owners and other maritime stakeholders has subsequently, directed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA) and the stakeholders to generate a memo on the disbursement for onward transmission and approval from President Mohammed Buhari.
He again at the launching of the book, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Maritime Assets- Past, Present and Future” repeated his indifference to the disbursement thus: “Mr. President is tired of hearing that there is money in the maritime industry. He wants to see the money. We have changed how things are done in NIMASA and that is why we have refused to disburse the CVFF. Those that collected it before did not pay”.
Reacting to this, however, the President of Ship Owners Association(SOAN), Engr. Greg Ogbeifun said,” We will not stop asking for the money to be disbursed. In the last administration, six companies were screened and found eligible but the process was suspended. Two wrongs cannot make a right, which is why it is imperative for the new administration to disburse the funds to grow our industry.”
“The law empowers any minister of transport to develop a guideline for the disbursement of the funds. So, we would like to appeal to the Minister to consider developing the guidelines for the disbursement of the CVFF for the growth of the industry,” Greg added
The Minister immediately called for a meeting with shipowners and stakeholders, following ensued disagreement with the shipowners at the book launch over the need to disburse the funds, and further directed NIMASA and shipowners to review the guidelines on CVFF disbursement.
Present at the meeting were among others, the President of SOAN, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, President of the Nigerian Ship Owners Association(NISA), Alhaji Aminu Umar, Chairperson, Shipowners Forum, Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi, the Director General of Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, Barr. Obiageri Obi,the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside and his Board members.
The Minister and the indigenous ship owners have severally differed on the CVFF disbursement. While Amaechi since assumption of office for over two years,now had insisted that the funds would not be given out with the argument that there was no guarantee that the beneficiaries would repay the funds, citing the suspended Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Funds(SASBF)in which many beneficiaries could not pay back amidst pockets of allegations bordering on diversion, the ship owners however have maintained that the CVFF is a statutory obligation of the government to the operators meant to develop the capacities of the local operators in tonnage ownership and human resources.
While always reminding the Minister that a frame work for the CVFF disbursement had been put in place by the previous regimes with the appointment of four primary lending institutions and a determined ratio of contributions with some companies shortlisted a number of times, they had also threatened to stop the 3 percent freight contribution from where the fund accrues.
At a media briefing recently, the Director General of NIMASA disclosed that over $125million has accrued as CVFF as at the month of August, 2018.
The book, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Maritime Assets-Past, Present and Future” was authored by the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of NIMASA, Mr. Bashir Y. Jamoh.
The book is a bold attempt to draw the attention of Nigeria’s policy makers to a sector of which neglect has been of immense impairment to the country’s economy, while depicting a dysfunctional economy created by the neglect of the maritime sector and calls on policy makers to urgently focus on harnessing the vast maritime assets.
