Determined to create cheap and interest friendly funds to enable ship owners acquire ships in order to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has selected 11 indigenous ship owners to benefit from the N136.5billion that has accrued in the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
The Cabotage Fund was established alongside the Nigerian Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act of 2003, to empower indigenous ship owners by enabling them to acquire vessels in order to take control of the nation’s coastal and inland shipping business, otherwise known as Cabotage trade.
To grow the fund, the regulation of Cabotage Act 2003 mandates every shipping line trading within the coastal region to remit 2 percent of the value of every contract awarded to it into the CVFF coffers.
Sadly, 18 years after, the Federal Government is yet to apply the over N136.5 million accumulated in the fund to actualising the purpose for setting it up, which is to further vessel acquisition.
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Bashir Jamoh, director general of NIMASA, who disclosed that 11indigenous shipping firms (names withheld) have been listed as potential beneficiaries, assured the indigenous ship owners that plans are on the way to commence the disbursement of the Fund (CVFF).
According to him, the fund comprises two components including N32billion in naira, and $209 million in dollar denominations, both totaling N136.5 billion as at March, 2020.
Jamoh, who said this in Lagos while presenting his management’s one-year scorecard, disclosed that the 11 indigenous shipping firms shortlisted would be the potential beneficiaries of the first phase of the fund while four Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) would midwife the process of the disbursement after the guidelines for the disbursement, is developed.
He however expressed concern over the delay by some International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria, in remitting the 2 percent statutory surcharge to the fund.
This, he observed, may forestall the growth of the fund and by implication, the growth and development of indigenous shipping business in Nigeria.
Victor Ochei, executive director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, the department that directly supervises the CVFF, said there might not be a need for the PLIs given the emergence of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime currently being operated by the government.
Ochei however assured that efforts would be made to ensure seamless disbursement of the funds, using the TSA model, which would ultimately lead to the acquisition of vessels as required by the law.
On the success of the Deep Blue Project in tackling maritime insecurity across Nigerian territorial waters, Jamoh assured that all the gamut of security operatives in Nigeria are collaborating through the C4I platform to address maritime insecurity.
He further said that efforts are on to change the narrative depicting Nigerian territory waters as the most dangerous, adding that the issue of maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea region is not entirely the responsibility of Nigeria alone as other member countries have the responsibility of protecting its own territory within the region.
On the issue of deployment of Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), that ensures safety of ships and crew, Jamoh disclosed that the Tarkwa Bay and Kirikiri bases would be commissioned in two-month time as the projects are at 70 percent asset acquisition stage.
