By Stephen Ubanna
Dayo Mobereola, a former Lagos state Commissioner of Transportation and now Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, at an interactive session with the Maritime Press in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, on Monday, August 12, 2024, has given an insight why the agency is not hurry to disburse the Cabotage vessel Finance Fund, CFF.
The CVFF, which was said to have been set up by former Obasanjo Obasanjo in’s Administration in 1993, under the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, to develop indigenous ship acquisition capacity and to provide financial assistance to indigenous shipping operators.
As at May, 2024, the CVFF, which was set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 1993, going by information made available to a House adhoc maritime Committee has a total contribution of $360. million. The Fund, which generated from a surcharge of 3% of the contract sum performed by vessels engaged in Coastal trade funds generated from tariffs, fines and fees for licenses and waivers, a sum believed to be periodically approved by the National Assembly and interests that accrue from loans granted from the funds .
An insider confirmed that the total amount in the CVFF, in the custody of the CBN, could have been morre than that amount if Daddo Maritime Services Limited, Blueseas Maritime Services Nigerian Limited, and Divine Marine Shipping Services Limited , which are collecting agents for NIMASA, had remitted the statutory 3% contributions of $$9.9 million , to the CVFF, with apex Bank.
Although the House Committee has given the maritime regulatory agency the go ahead to start the disbursement of the funds, which is already in custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under the close watch of Olayemi Michael Cardoso, based on the approved guidelines of 50%, contribution from NIMASA, while the remaining funds of 50% is expected to be contributed by the benefitting indigenous shipping companies and the banks on the basis of 35% and 15%.
The NIMASA, Chief Executive Officer, who could not hide his feelings had said that that the agency is currently reviewing the strategies put in place for the disbursement of the CVFF, to avoid the mistake made in the past over the disbursement of the defunct Ship Building and Ship Acquisition Funds, SBSAF. He had alluded to the fact that the beneficiaries of the SBSAF, had owed the North American country of the United States, US, millions of dollars.
The new NIMASA, Management team, who are determined to recover the huge amount owed the agency over the years were said to have engaged the services of two debtor Companies, which names remained a closely guided secret.
Take for instance, Genesis Worldwide Shipping Company Limited, founded by Emmanuel Iheanacho, an Imo state born Politician and former minister of Interior, during former President Goodluck’s Administration, was said to have been dragged to the Federal High Court in Lagos, to liquidate its outstanding debt of US $2,380,000 .
But the former minister would not agree that his company is owing such amount to NIMASA, insisting that it is wrong and a misleading information for the agency to claim that the company has been engaged in manipulation to refrain from fulfilling obligations or that a Court has considered his company to pay the loans secured from NIMASA. He was said to have agreed that Genesis Worldwide industry circles.shipping is indebted to the defunct National Maritime Authority, which Asset and Liabilities have been taken over by NIMASA, but the company have been paying the debt steadily. He was said to have made it clear to the NIMAS engaged debt re last January 2024covery companies that the company’s outstanding total debt , was US$2.5 million, basic, as at October, 2023, noting that it has paid the sum of US$1,69,9.25 , leaving an outstanding of $1.,780,215.04 and not $ US$2.380,00 as alleged.
His worry was that others whose companies took the loans with his own company, Genesis Worldwide shipping have not paid a penny. He noted that the company had paid had paid another US$50,000and deserve to be commended instead of being called ‘’bad names’’
As a prelude to ensuring that ‘’the CVFF, was not given to the wrong people this time around that may not have any benefit to the nation or ship owner have informed why the NIMASA, authorities have to go back to the drawing board to decide on how to disburse the funds to ensure that it is’’ to the benefit of shipping development in Nigeria’’. The NIMASA, CEO, was emphatic that the new Management are working the strategies that would facilitate the disbursement of the US $360 million funds soon.
The NIMASA bosswho was said to have also taken advantage of the opportunity provided by the interactive session with maritime press to speak appears to have put to rest the issue of floating another National carrier to take the place of the defunct National shipping Line, NNSL, in which the defunct NMA, had spent US$28 million to revive but turned out to be drain pipe. He was said to have made it clear to those that cares to listen that the agency will support the indigenous shipping that would’’ fly the country’s flag and ensure that they have cargoes to carry to compete favourably with the foreign shiping Lines which currently dominate the country’s maritime space.
The former Lagos state Commissioner of Transportation, had said that that agency is currently understudying other Flag state like the United Kingdom, UK, Philippines and the West African country of Liberia to see how they go about implementing the policies and domesticate it in the Nigerian context.
The NIMASA, boss may have shocked Nigerians when he disclosed at the interactive session with the Maritime press in Lagos, on Monday, August 12, 2024, that N50 billion Modular Floating Dock, with a capacity to handle up to 10,000 metric tons of vessels, which Bashir Jamoh, the immediate past Director General of the maritime agency had succeeded in getting the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, to lease its Continental Shipyard for use of its modular floating Dockyard.
Until he left office last March, Jamoh, had told Industry stakeholders that floating Dockyard would soon be put to deploy into full sale operations to dry-dock ocean going vessels since all grey areas between the agency and NPA, had been cleared but that was how far he could go.
Mobereola and his Management team who had visited the Modular Floating Dockyard facility at the NPA, Continental shipyard at Apapa, Lagos, on Thursday, August 8, 2014, as part of moves to prepare the ground to deploy the facility into operation had said that it will be taken to another location for easy accessibility by ocean going vessels ready for dry docking.
Given that about 5,00 ocean-going vessels cat the Nigerian ports of Apa, Tincan Islan, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Kirkiri Lighter Terminal, phases I & II, Onne and Rivers port, PortHarcourt, including Calabar and Delta ports as well as crude oil vesses that call at Escravos, Forcados, Bony, Braa and Qua Iboe offshore to lift crude oil, the Nigerian Government eyes to generate N12 billion annually from the facility as maritime analysts had said that it will help attain the marine and blue economy objectives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration. The argument in maritime circles that if the blue economy could contribute 33% of the East African country of Namibia, Gross Domestic Product, GDP, there is no basis why the blue economy project if properly developed in Nigeria, the most populous county in the African Continent, would not do much better and reduce the country’s dependence on crude oil sale, as the main stay of the nation’s economy. It is not surprising why Mobereola, the NIMASA, helmsman, and his Management team, who have the backing of Oyetola Adegboyega, a former governor of Osun state and now minister of Marine and Blue Economy, is doing everything within their powers to see to the actualization of the blue economy project
