Nigerians who are expecting the disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) may be waiting endlessly as the conflicting position of the CVFF guidelines and the regulations of the Banks and Other Financial Institution Act (BOFIA) would not permit them to access the fund currently put at $700 million.
For over a decade, the disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) to indigenous shipowners has become a difficult task which government are unable to resolved as the complicated politics and intrigues of some powerful forces within and outside the maritime sector have hampered every attempt to disburse the money to ship owners, who have contributed to the fund.
The efforts and assurances of the successive Directors General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Ministers of Transportation, have not yielded any results due to the difficulties associated with raising money for vessel acquisition for local operators by banks and government have given rise to foreign vessels domination in Nigerian territorial waters for cabotage trade as local shipping companies could not secure coastal shipping contracts.
There is uncertainty in the disbursement of the fund, as the former Director General of the agency, Barrister TemisanOmatseye recently told the new NIMASA boss, Dr DayoMobeola at a maritime stakeholders forum that the controversial CVFF disbursement was not within his power to determine during his tenure, no matter how hard he tries.
Omatseye said: “Let me be frank with you, you will not be able to disburse CVFF.”
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He said that his doubt was based on the conflicting position of the CVFF guidelines and the regulations of the Banks and Other Financial Institution Act(BOFIA).
The CVFF which was established by the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003 to develop indigenous ship acquisition capacity. Also, it was set up to offer financial assistance, create access to funding by financial institutions with the sole aim of increasing indigenous ship acquisition capacity.
Under the 2006 guideline, the disbursement of the fund is subject to the approval of the minister of transportation upon recommendation by NIMASA.
Moreover, the source of CVFF, which is mainly in Section 43 of the Inland and Coastal Shipping (Cabotage ) Act 2003 provides that: a surcharge of two per cent of the contract sum performed by any vessel engaged in Cabotage trade; a sum as shall from time to time be determined and approved by the National Assembly; monies generated under the Act including tariffs, fines and fees for licenses and waivers and such further sums accruable by the fund by way of interest paid on and the repayment of the principal sums of any loan granted from the fund.
Regardless of the above, since its implementation in 2004, the fund has not been disbursed for the intended purpose as specified in the CVFF guidelines.
Omatseye said further : “I have my reason. By virtue of the CVFF, NIMASA is engaged in risk assessment before the funds are discussed but BOFIA does not allow an outsider to do risk assessment as it relates to funding.”
However, Mobereola does not need to be held captive by the politics that has stalled the disbursement of the controversial CVFF since 2006 as he has an escape route in the guidelines of CVFF disbursement, Omatseye retorted.
President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Captain Tajudeen Alao was skeptical about the politics of the Fund disbursement, he said that the disbursement of CVFF was a political game which Mobereola was not cut out to play.
“He does not have the power to push for the disbursement of the fund. The law is very clear in the Cabotage Act who is in charge and that money is subject to the approval of the National Assembly because it is an income that goes to the Federation Account but it should not be used like that because it is a purpose driven contribution.”
The President of Nigerian Ship owners Association (NISA), Otunba Shola Adewunmi advocates for the waiver clause to be expunged from the Cabotage Act, especially on the ship building clause, adding that Nigeria was not yet a ship building nation.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, H.E GboyegaOyetola who told the stakeholders in Lagos when he was meeting with the Ship Owners, said he would try his best possible to see to the disbursement of the CVFF. The question remains, can the person of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy pull such stunt owning to the facts that he is yet to grab the politics in industry?
Oyetola who is yet to meet with the media men since his assumption of office and most of his agencies heads who were appointed during this administration has taken cue from him to rubbish what the media can do to make them realize their aims in the industry.
