NIMASA to commence CVFF disbursement soon - DG

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has hinted that the long awaited Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) would be distributed soon.

Dakuku, who however did not state the actual date of the disbursement to local shipping operators, said that the challenges confronting effective implementation of local content development, under the cabotage regime, included inadequate infrastructure, skills gap and uncooperative attitude of some institutions, which are reluctant to invest in the sector.

Dakuku was represented by Deputy Director, Maritime Labour Services, Mr. Victor Egejuru, at a breakfast meeting organised by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) in Lagos.

He said there were challenges confronting the effective implementation of local content under the cabotage regime.

Dakuku stated that the challenges include inadequate infrastructure, skills gap and uncooperative attitude of some institutions in the country.

According to him, the institutions prefer short-term facilities against long-term facilities, adding that shipping is capital intensive and most of the banks shy away from it.

He recalled that before now, maritime space was dominated by foreigners, adding that the story has now changed.

He said the Cabotage Act had restricted the use of foreign vessels and foreigners from participating in the coastal trade, and to a large extent, the agency has been able to address that through promotions, financial assistance and encouraging Nigerians to go into joint venture as well as by enforcement.

He said enforcement is carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

He said this was necessitated by the fact that the content board had an interface with oil majors who give out these contracts.

He also said the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme was in progress with over 2000 Nigerians trained in first-class maritime institutions overseas.

His words, “Some of these people have graduated, some are already working in Nigeria, the essence is to ensure that at least if we say these vessels must be manned by Nigerians, we will have the capacity to take over from these foreigners.”

He said the agency had conducted the capacity audit of the shipping sector to determine what the country has and what it does not have so that the agency could fill the gap.

“We are also looking at the provision of incentives in terms of giving tax waivers and the like to Nigerians who import maritime related equipment so that they can favourably compete with their foreign counterparts,” he added.