Cabotage committee to establish new guidelines on N44.6bn CVFF disbursemen

By Samson Echenim

A maritime industry stakeholders committee set up by the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on cabotage implementation is preparing new guidelines for disbursement of the long-awaited Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF).

The fund set up by the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, otherwise known as the Cabotage Act, 2003 to give investment leverage to indigenous ship owners, has remained un-accessed 16 years after its creation. The fund currently has a value of $124 million (about N44.6 billion).

Chairman of the committee, Mr. Temisan Omatseye, a former director-general of NIMASA, told business a.m. during a chat at a maritime/oil and gas forum in Lagos that the committee would come up with a new guideline on ship owners can access the fund, among other works it was saddled with.

He said the committee is currently awaiting position papers from various segments of maritime industry stakeholders before it breaks into sub-committees to handle the different issues of players in the country’s maritime trade.

Omatseye said, “We have had our first meeting and we have reached out to stakeholders in the industry to tell us what their issues are. So, they are now writing their position papers. Once we receive sufficient position papers, we will sit and break into sub-committees and begin to look deeply into the papers.

“We are going to come up with a new guideline on the disbursement of the cabotage fund. The committee is handling everything about cabotage, shipyards, foreign direct invests. We have been given a long time to do the job because it has a wide scope. For 16 years it has not worked, so we have been the task to make it work