The Federal Government has approved the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF, estimated at over N150billion.
This is coming nearly 17 years after it was created to enable indigenous ship owners acquire vessels and build local capacity.
Created under the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003, the funds were derived from two per cent of every contract awarded under the Cabotage regime, and was designed to be a revolving loan managed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Dr. Bashir Jamoh, Director General of the agency, who made the disclosure Lagos , said that the agency was currently fine tuning details of the processes that would culminate in the payment of the funds to eligible Nigerian shipping firms.
Jamoh, who held a virtual meeting in Lagos with members of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, also, warned that no single hull vessel would be allowed to operate on the nation’s waters from January 1, 2021 as prescribed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
He said: “We are committed to the complete phase-out of single-hull tankers by December 31. Operators still using this type of tankers should make adequate preparation to comply because there will be no going back on this decision.
“We have discussed the timeline for discontinuing the use of single-hull tankers and were given five years to comply with the ban, which is, to all intents and purposes, a generous time frame”.
While describing shipping as “the beacon and hub of any developing economy”, the Director General argued that the journey to success for the current management of NIMASA depends on the ship owners.
He said: “We shall continue to pursue our functions of promoting and regulating shipping in collaboration with ship owners and all relevant stakeholders.”
On some of the concerns raised by the ship owners over the proposed disbursement of the CVFF, Jamoh stated that the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, had approved the disbursement of the fund, meant to assist indigenous operators in the acquisition of maritime assets.
He noted that the details are being worked out with a view to avoiding mistakes that led to the flop of similar funds created in the past and ensuring effective and efficient utilisation of the fund by the indigenous shipping firms.
He added, “We have also submitted proposals to the Minister to seek fiscal and monetary incentives for our shipowners.”
