Shipowners Demand Forensic Audit of NIMASA over $124Million CVFF Fund

By ZION Olalekan |

The Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) has called for a forensic audit of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) domiciled under the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Director General of NISA Secretariat and former Executive Director of NIMASA, Eng Nnadi Ogbuagu made the call in a chat with Nigeriamaritime360.com saying that the $124million accrued in the fund which was disclosed by the Director General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside was below the actual figure.

Ogbuagu said that the CVFF fund has accrued well above the $124million declared to the media by Peterside, even as he said that the association is calling for a forensic audit of the CVFF account.

According to him, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) collects 1% deductions and remittance on value of contracts executed in the upstream sector and the agency has declared over $700million in the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF).

NIMASA on the other hand collects 2% levy and is declaring a peanut of $124million.

He called on NIMASA to disburse the money immediately to deserving ship owners who have contributed to the fund.

According to him, one other falsehood that NIMASA has allegedly peddled in the media is that beneficiaries of the Ship Building and Acquisition Fund under the then National Maritime Authority (NMA) failed to pay back the monies collected. Ogbuagu, who claimed to have personally surveyed some of the ships back then, confirmed that the beneficiaries did pay back.

He said “Forensic audit of the CVFF should be done, we have to fact check it because the money is supposed to be more, NIMASA is collecting 2% while NCDMB is collecting 1%, they have so much money now that they are giving out money for purchase of ships and loan out money to Nigerians who approach them, they were talking of over $700million within six years. This is why they give out money to assist Nigerians.

“So, the $124million declared by NIMASA is too small, they should come forward with the right figure.

“I saw in their budget that they paid N1billion to recover Cabotage vessel fund, it is a specific 2% collection so you don’t need any consultant or third party, if they have this in their budget, then it means that somebody is fiddling with the money.

“We have done it in NMA with the ship acquisition and ship building fund, it is not true that those who collected the money never returned them, Iheanacho returned all his money, it is only one company by Omotosho whose vessel sank in Ghana that did not pay back and we took them to court, the owners are now dead. Charlie Uwada is also a success story, I was the one surveying the vessels, so all the story they tell you journalists is not true.

“The money should be distributed to those Shipowners who are contributing towards the fund. The way it is done is that you sight a vessel, you send a surveyor to survey it, NIMASA will be part of the process, there is an equity contribution from the shipowner, when a vessel is good, and you buy it for them. It is wrong for NIMASA to be keeping this money because it is not their money” he said.

The NISA top shot also argued that the Cabotage law is not being implemented in totality.

He cautioned that the NIMASA boss should stop debasing Nigerian shipowners by claiming that they operate rust buckets. He called for a review of the law, saying that it is not working.