The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has approved 12 primary lending institutions (PLIs) to be in charge of disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), to increase domestic shipping operations.The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, disclosed this to newsmen during an oversight visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration at the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre in Lagos, on Wednesday.
Mobereola noted that the apex maritime regulator has been engaging the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, NLNG, and diverse exporters to prioritise indigenous ship operators in a bid to ensure the beneficiaries of CVFF have cargoes to support their investment.
His words: “For CVFF disbursement, we have expanded the PLIs to 12 and we are still insisting that we have a single digit interest rate. Our shipping companies should be able to compete with their international contemporaries. The interest rate shouldn’t throw indigenous operators out of the market. We are also working assiduously to ensure that cargoes are available for the beneficiaries of CVFF. We are engaging the cargo generators like NNPC, NLNG, exporters to prioritise Nigerian vessels.
According to Mobereola, NIMASA had reopened the bidding process for the PLIs but the initial five – Polaris, Zenith, Union, Jaiz, and UBA banks, along with seven additional institutions have been approved to facilitate access to the fund.
He said, “What we have done is to streamline the guidelines for the CVFF and the guidelines now that has been approved by the Honorable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy is to ensure that it takes nothing less than three to four months to access the funds. And what is most important about it is that we are also making use of the banks so it will not be totally a NIMASA project.
“The banks are going to carry out the initial risk assessment to be sure that whoever wants to access this fund has the capacity in terms of his own financial capacity and then the bank is going to lend 35% and then NIMASA is going to lend the other 50%.
On his part, the Acting Chairman of the House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Hon. Uduak Ududoh, lauded the development and assured NIMASA of the committee’s full support.
He expressed optimism that the CVFF disbursement would create more employment opportunities and reduce capital flight in the maritime industry.
“I don’t think we even have up to 5% of Nigerians owning vessels. But with the recent approval of the disbursement of the Cabotage Fund, which is domiciled in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), there will be an improvement. I know very soon once the guideline is done, it will create more employment to our people and it will also help the Nigerian players in the maritime industry, to have vessels so that everything will not be capital flights.
“So that is one very significant thing that I know will happen during the DG’s tenure and we are ready to give him maximum cooperation to succeed, ” he assured.
The Chairman pledged that the committee will collaborate with NIMASA and the Ministry of Marine & Blue Economy to address identified challenges, including obsolete laws, and to support the agency’s budgetary needs.
