Shipowners Disagree As FG Set to Disburse Trapped $124m Vessels Intervention Fund

ABIOLA Seun |

Discordant tunes among indigenous shipowners as the federal government disclosed readiness to review guidelines for the disbursement the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) worth $124million to qualified operators.

The CVFF which is made up of money derived as two percent surcharge for all contracts under the cabotage regime came into effect in 2004 by virtue of the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act (Cabotage) 2003 had not been disbursed in the last 18 years.

The Cabotage Act, which was closely modelled after the United States of America’s Jones Act 1938, was to help develop the capacity and participation of indigenous ship owners in coastal inland trade which was largely dominated by foreigners.

Also, recall that the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi on Tuesday said he will summon stakeholders to an urgent meeting to address the shipping community’s concern over the government’s continued inability to disburse accruals into the CVFF.

The Minister, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, who was the Special Guest of Honour at a public book presentation titled: Harnessing Nigeria’s Maritime Assets – Past, Present and Future, authored by the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Bashir Jamoh, said that the government understands stakeholders’ yearnings for the review of the disbursement guidelines of the fund.

However, the unjustifiable failure of the government to disburse the fund with accruals of over $124million, is said to be not only the cause of the inability of the indigenous shipping companies to participate in international cargo afreightmement, but also stifles development of local capacity.

But, now that government has expressed readiness to disburse, shipowners disagree over review of guidelines to roll out the disbursement.

While the President of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Alhaji Aminu Umar welcomes the review of guidelines, the former Chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Expo (NIMAREX), Prince Ayo Adedoyin questioned why government is reviewing the existing guideline set by previous administration.

Umar said, “Reviewing the CVFF will solve something and we believe it will be a starter for the disbursement of the CVFF. The CVFF position now is not that the figure is stopped when disbursed but rather, the figure will be increasing and people will continue paying. Not that when it is disbursed today then it (the fund) is finished forever but the position is that since people are generating more, the CVFF is being generated.

“What the minister is going to do is that if he starts disbursing today, he will put in a guideline that will make it a continuous process and every year they can disburse what they have and people who are qualified will get the funds. So I think it is a step in the right direction to what the minister is doing.”

Umar who is also the Managing Director of Seatranport Nigeria Limited, an indigenous shipping company confirmed that the minister held meeting on the disbursement of the fund.

“The minister has already called the stakeholders meeting and I was in the meeting and we have discussed together with the board of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and it was agreed that we will sit down together within the next one or two weeks to come up with a proper guidelines that will be submitted to the minister in the interest of all the stakeholders.”

On his own part, Adedoyin asked what happened to the guidelines that were set before by the previous administration saying it is a fresh plot to deceive shipowners

“Why review guidelines again when there is a guideline on ground before? To me this is another ploy to waste people’s time.

The former NIMAREX chairman who also asked whether the fund can be used to renegotiate loans in banks believed those who may benefit from the disbursement are those who didn’t contribute to the fund.

“Who will disburse to who?” he asked rhetorically.

He continued, “Is it to people who actually suffered? We can’t just continue to lie to ourselves about what is going on in the industry because majority of the people who will benefit are not the people who actually suffered to contribute the money and that is the truth because majority of the people who call themselves shipowners now are not part of the story and due to problems that the shipowners of yesterday faced, they are not part of the shipping industry anymore.”

“Are they going to say they want to call them back maybe they can benefit or can CVFF be used to re-negotiate loans for people who actually contributed the money whose businesses are suffering now or give the money to the new breed who didn’t even know what happened or how the whole thing even started?

Adedoyin also disclosed that he has given up on disbursement of the fund and asked how much interest has accrued to the fund over the years.

“I personally have given up on the CVFF a long time ago and the story is when elections are coming they start to talk about CVFF fund but, the issue is that before talking about disbursement, we need to know the actual in the account.

“It is our money and they are just custodian of the money. Government is not the owner of the money. Shipowners contributed that money out of their own hard earned money? They take certain percent from our money we should know how much the money is and the operators need to sit and plan on what to do with their money; government is just the custodian.”