Cabotage Fund intact, domiciles with CBN, says NIMASA

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has assured the nation’s maritime industry that funds accrued in the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) are intact and domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Single Treasury Account (TSA).

The CVFF is a fund established under section 42 of the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003 to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition and provide credit facilities to local operators.

Dayo Mobereola, director general of NIMASA, said there have been no disappearances of Cabotage funds and no illegal transactions, as presently claimed by reports in the public domain.

He described the claim as a figment of the author’s imagination aimed at undermining NIMASA’s integrity and misleading the public about the Agency’s operations.

Mobereola, however, assured the shipping industry that the funds would be safe and that CVFF would be used in accordance with its statutory purpose.

“Let us be clear that the CVFF account at the Central Bank of Nigeria is safe, intact, and secure. We at NIMASA will continue to manage it with the utmost responsibility, and there are no irregularities or illegal activities surrounding the funds,” the NIMASA boss explains.

He urged the public to disregard the false narrative and to continue trusting the Agency’s ability to uphold the integrity of Nigeria’s maritime sector.

He assured of NIMASA’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and the advancement of Nigeria’s maritime sector.

In 2023, NIMASA announced that the fund had over N16 billion in local currency and $350 million in foreign currency. Over a year later, the money accrued in the fund must have exceeded this amount.

If disbursed to ship owners, the fund would enable the acquisition of vessels for seaborne trade and would reduce the rate of foreign domination of the Nigerian shipping business.