- Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola (middle), Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Chudi Offodile (right), and Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Jibril Abba, during Mobereola’s maiden interactive session with the maritime media…in Lagos
From Anthony Nwachukwu, Lagos
In a tone clearer and closer to the motive of setting it up, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola, says the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF) is not a Federal Government revenue but vessel development contributions by ship owners.
Moberola, who spoke during his interactive session with the maritime media in Lagos Monday, allayed fears over the fund’s safety and availability, insisting that it is intact and would be available for efficient use once the agency concludes fine-tuning a new disbursement process.
According to him, “the CVFF as at today is with the Federal Government and it is for the use of ship owners. It has not been touched, it is not a revenue, it is a contribution towards the development of the Nigerian shipping industry and ship owners.
“That is recognised and that is what it is going to be used for, as soon as we come back with the fine-tuned guidelines on how to use it, which we have been working on with my executive directors.”
However, he disclosed that the agency was “also exploring other avenues to ensure that this CVFF is not just CVFF but enlarged in such a way that we can even leverage it.”
Assuring that NIMASA was carefully planning the disbursement to avoid the mistakes with the defunct Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund (SASBF), Mobereola explained that the CVFF goes beyond vessel acquisition to the demand for steady supply of cargo for the vessels.
“You will recall that 25 years ago when some of these resources were disbursed, they were lost. They were given to the wrong people. There was no benefit to the nation and the ship owners who were contributing to it.
“In this case, we are looking for opportunities to ensure that when we start the disbursement of CVFF, it will be for the benefit of shipping promotion in Nigeria and not be a start and stop. It will be something that will help us to continually develop the sector.”
On the continued exploitation of Nigerian shippers through the sustenance of the huge war risk insurance on in-bound cargoes, Mobereola said that NIMASA was already rallying the United Nations and international maritime organisation to compel a reduction of the charges to the actual risk.
Noting that a “powerful cartel” within the international insurance sector “behind the war risk insurance premium is making so much money from it and will rather keep it as it is than remove it,” he said that Nigeria cannot do it alone and was rallying support to meet the insurance companies.
According to him, though the enforcers are aware that piracy and sea robbery incidents in Nigerian waters have significantly reduced, they have nonetheless continued to add war risk premium to the cost of Nigeria-bound trade.
“One of the points I raised during my visit to Chatham House was how the war risk insurance placed on Nigeria-bound cargoes can be reduced,” he stated.
“Even if Nigeria maintains zero piracy on her waters for the next 10 years, if we don’t force the issues they will continue to charge us. They won’t remove the war risk insurance because they are making so much money from it.”
Meanwhile, the NIMASA chief executive has faulted the “initial plan” for the modular floating dock, even as he disclosed ongoing efforts for the facility to generate revenue and employment.
“We are going to put the modular floating dock to very good use so that once it is in operation, it will benefit the economy, seafarers and NIMASA itself. We need to place the modular floating dock in an appropriate location. It is just a matter of time, we will soon get that done.”
